Ontario researchers say they have discovered how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, a finding they say could help combat the growing problem.
Maikel Rheinstadter, a physics professor with McMaster University in Hamilton, and Andree Khondker, an undergraduate biochemistry student, said they found bacteria fight off antibiotics by stiffening their cell membranes and changing the barrier's electrical charge, becoming a less attractive target to the drugs.
"The big challenge that we are facing is that the drugs we used to treat diseases with are in the process of not working anymore because bacteria are becoming more and more resistant to these drugs," said Rheinstadter, the lead author of the study. "The idea we had is every disease and bacteria is treated differently so we tried the opposite -- to see if there are common properties of all bacteria, if there is a general mechanism for this bacteria resistance that one could tackle," Rheinstadter said.
"We also think we can use it to screen through potential antibiotic drug candidates," he said. "If researchers come up with new ideas, we can quickly test them if they work."
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