The Uppsala Antibiotic Center continues working towards a future with effective antibiotics
After four years of operation, the Uppsala Antibiotic Center (UAC) now begins a second round of projects within their research school, expanding horizons through new research, education and a newly established collaboration with the Swedish Agricultural University (SLU).
Following a successful first round of funding at the center, the Uppsala Antibiotic Center (UAC) continues its operations with a second round of funding with 35 million SEK from Uppsala University and the Swedish Agricultural University (SLU). A total of 14 new granted PhD projects now join the center, expanding the research and topics of the UAC portfolio. These new projects will include development of new antibiotics, economic models, drug delivery, biology of resistance, novel antibiotic treatments, the global antimicrobial resistance response, and the dynamics of resistance in livestock. UAC starts a close collaboration with SLU, which hosts and supports one project, strengthening the important One Health perspective at the center. During the next few weeks, the granted projects will announce their associated doctoral student positions and the new group of students will join the UAC research school by September of this year.
Antibiotics have changed our world in modern times, allowing us to treat infections and advancing the medical field. Unfortunately, the excessive use and misuse of antibiotics over decades have resulted in the selection for resistant bacteria that are no longer affected by the antibiotics. Understanding and preventing the rise and spread of resistant bacteria are global challenges that calls for actions involving the biological, technological, social, clinical, and economical aspects of antibiotics. With this complexity in mind, the UAC started in 2017 as a multidisciplinary center for education, research, innovation, and awareness around antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. Thus, UAC aims at educating a new generation of scientists that will understand the complexity of antibiotic resistance and that can contribute new problem-solving skills that involve all the relevant aspects of this problem.
Over the past four years, the UAC has advanced research in several areas, including biology, chemistry, economy, sociology, linguistics, nanotechnology, and public health, supporting graduate projects and tenure-track positions in the three disciplinary domains of Uppsala University. The research school at the UAC has provided a multidisciplinary education program for its graduate students with an array of seminars, workshops, and symposia. Since the start of the center, UAC has also successfully started several awareness and communication projects, like The AMR Studio podcast and the yearly collaboration with the Uppsala Science Festival SciFest.