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CDC awards more than $14 million to antibiotic resistance projects
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The CDC is devoting more than $14 million to fund 34 projects that will explore new approaches against antibiotic resistance, including research on how a person’s microbiome may predict and even prevent drug-resistant infections, according to a press release.
“Understanding the role the microbiome plays in antibiotic-resistant infections is necessary to protect the public’s health,” CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, said in the release. “We think it is key to innovative approaches to combat antibiotic resistance, protect patients, and improve antibiotic use.”
The funds are part of the CDC’s Broad Agency Announcement and support the agency’s Antibiotic Resistance Solutions Initiative, which employs tracking, prevention and antibiotic stewardship activities. The awards, granted to numerous universities, two nonprofit organizations and a commercial company, will investigate the association between antibiotics, the microbiome and the consequences of widespread antibiotic use. In particular, the projects will attempt to determine how antibiotics interrupt a healthy microbiome, how a disturbed microbiome puts people at risk for drug-resistant infections, and how to improve antibiotic stewardship programs to protect the microbiome.
According to the CDC, awards were distributed to Brown University; Columbia University; Cornell University; Emory University; Georgia Institute of Technology; The Joint Commission; Ohio State University; OpenBiome; Pennsylvania State University; Rutgers University; Synthetic Biologics, Inc.; University of Georgia; University of California, Berkley; University of California, Davis; University of Cincinnati; University of Colorado; University of Maryland; University of Michigan; University of Pennsylvania; University of Virginia; University of Oregon; University of Utah; Virginia Commonwealth University; Washington University; and Yale University.
Disclosure: Frieden reports no relevant financial disclosures.