About antibiotic resistance
We live in a world of increasingly scarce resources when it comes to antibiotics. The World Health Organization estimates 700 000 deaths from antibiotic resistance yearly that could rise to 10 million per year by 2050. Misuse of antibiotics accelerates development and spread of drug-resistance. Improved strategies of antibiotic treatment in patients with severe infections are urgently needed to improve survival and to reduce unnecessary usage of antibiotics that leads to resistance development.
Our research
Research focus: Targeted antibiotic therapy of patients with severe infections to improve clinical impact and reduce resistance.
We combine large databases of clinical and microbiological data to study
- the impact of antibiotic treatment and vaccine strategies,
- screening algorithms to guide antibiotic treatment, and
- genetic properties of bacteria that can be exploited for future therapeutic interventions.
We primarily focus on healthcare-associated infections, pneumonia and gram-negative infections. The studies are performed within test-beds of electronic health records, national register-based research databases of infections, and clinical studies performed in collaboration with national and international researchers. Currently we lead a Vinnova-financed triple-helix project (academia, public partners, and industry) to develop novel big-data driven techniques to curb healthcare-associated infections.