VATIS UPDATE Article

Researchers at Chalmers Univer­sity of Technology (Chalmers), Sweden, have discovered that using fungi as a source of new antibiotics produce many more natural and bioactive chemicals than was previously thought.

“We found that the fungi have enormous, previously untapped, potential for the production of new antibiotics and other bioactive compounds, such as cancer medicines,” said Jens Christian Nielsen, at Chalmers.

Having discovered their potential, the scientists are now calling on governments to support clinical trials that would help kick-start production. When antibiotics are used, they are typically used with the short-term in mind, in contrast to the long-term therapies that help bring in revenues for pharmaceutical companies. However, the dangers posed by antibiotic resistance, where simple infections could become lethal once again, means the need for new antibiotics is now urgent.

The idea to study Fungi was inspired by the fact that the first antibiotic to be mass-produced –penicillin – was derived from Penicillium fungi. But while previous efforts to find new antibiotics have mainly focused on bacteria, fungi remain an untapped resource. “Fungi have been hard to study – we know very little of what they can do – but we do know that they develop bioactive substances naturally, as a way to protect themselves and survive in a competitive environment,” said Christian Nielsen.