 A booster shot for antibiotics
The conference room at the Department of Life Sciences was so crammed – more than a hundred people – that students found themselves sitting at the same table with the examiners, and as they kept filing in, one of the doorways had to be opened so more could stand and listen.
For Antonio Ramkissoon, standing tall behind the conference table, few would have known that he had kicked off his shoes and was padding around in his socks the entire time. As he nears the completion of his thesis, he is delivering a seminar which he has called “Breaking Antibiotic Resistance: A novel innovation that rescues antibiotics.”
It is ground-breaking work at many levels, and it is a reminder of how many of the most magnificent discoveries come because someone looked at something in a completely different way. He makes it clear he has not found a new antibiotic – no new class has been found for nearly 40 years – but he has found something that boosts existing ones. Think of it as the impact of carbonation on water, from flat to fizz!
Its potential to medical care and pharmaceuticals makes it a discovery of global significance, and that’s about as much as can be revealed at this stage.
But look out for more on Antonio Ramkissoon because soon the world will have a lot to say about him and his work as part of the drug discovery research cluster in the Departments of Life Sciences and Chemistry.
(VB)
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