The work of a scientist in KwaZulu-Natal – who recently received the Distinguished Young Woman Researcher Award at the 23rd SA Women in Science Awards ceremony in Johannesburg – may breathe fresh and renewed life into existing antibiotics, and help combat the plague of AMR, reports News24.
For a chemist who started with an idea in a laboratory, the prospect of making a difference to patients is what drives Professor Tricia Naicker, director of the Catalysis and Peptide Research Unit at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) – who said she’s energised by the possibility of giving old antibiotics a second chance.
“What excites me about our approach is that we are not necessarily trying to replace all of the antibiotics we already have. We are trying to find ways of protecting and restoring their activity. In simple terms, if we can stop the resistance mechanism from destroying an antibiotic, an antibiotic that has been around for years may become effective again,” she added.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), often described as a silent pandemic, occurs when bacteria evolve to survive the drugs designed to kill them, and the crisis is particularly acute in South Africa.
Naicker’s team’s compounds have now entered phase 1 clinical trials, which focus on safety, dosing, and how the body processes the compound. While clinical development is lengthy, she said it was thrilling that a chemistry idea had reached this stage.
Her research spans three disciplines: chemists make molecules, microbiologists test them against resistant bacteria, and biochemists explain how they work.
“Each discipline answers a different question: can we make it? Does it work? And why does it work? Antimicrobial resistance is too complex for one discipline to solve on its own.”
After postdoctoral studies in Denmark under world-renowned chemist Professor KA Jorgensen, she returned to South Africa, “which has exceptional scientific talent.”
“I believe we have an important role to play in solving problems that affect our own continent and the wider world.”
With an NRF C1 rating and more than 130 peer-reviewed publications, Naicker is one of the country’s most prolific researchers in her field.
“My ambition is not simply to discover another interesting molecule. I want to see our science translated into a medicine that can help address antimicrobial resistance. And alongside that, I want to continue building a team of young scientists who can carry this work forward long after me.”
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
AMR in South Africa a ‘silent pandemic’
Call for access to new antibiotics in SA as AMR rises
AMR spread could lead to next global health crisis
Step forward as first study maps out Africa’s superbug threat