Robert Vácha, the head of a research group at Masaryk University’s CEITEC research facility, has received the prestigious ERC Proof of Concept grant for the preclinical testing of new antimicrobial peptides, which have the potential to contribute significantly to the fight against antibiotic resistance of bacteria. This EUR 150,000 grant for 12-18 months is awarded by the European Research Council (ERC), and supports innovative projects with high application potential.
Vácha’s research focuses on the development of antimicrobial peptides to address the critical need for effective treatments of respiratory infections caused by resistant bacteria, which occur mainly in hospitals. His team are developing peptides which deliberately disrupt the lipid protective packaging of bacteria, thus eliminating the bacteria without damaging human cells. The main problem of traditional antibiotics is that bacteria can create resistance to them. However, perforation of their lipid cover significantly reduces this ability.
“Our antimicrobial peptides have shown exceptional efficacy against Acinetobacter Baumannia in laboratory tests, especially in hospitalized immune patients,” said Vácha. “The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved a new chemical class of antibiotics against this bacterium for more than 50 years. This grant will allow us to move research towards clinical testing, a major step towards approval of a new drug in the fight against these difficult to treat infections.”
In addition, the antimicrobial peptides developed at CEITEC show promising activity against other pathogens that cause severe infections, such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and burns infections. The uniqueness of this technology lies not only in its efficiency against bacteria, but also in the potential ability to destroy cancer cells, which opens up opportunities for new methods of treating solid tumors.
The ERC Proof of Concept Grant is intended exclusively for ERC Grant holders, so it is awarded to an exclusive group of applicants, underlining its prestige and significance. The aim of the grant is to promote the transfer of basic research results and stimulate innovation with a high social impact.
The project will be launched in the next few months, and Vácha’s team will focus on more detailed pharmacological tests and evaluation of the therapeutic potential of antimicrobial peptides, intending to minimize animal testing in favour of the use of modern cell models. The project could thus become an important step towards the development of a new generation of antibiotics and anticancer drugs, which could have a significant impact on health care around the world.
