University of Regina awarded grant to fight antibiotic resistance

The University of Regina has received a $1.1M grant for research to combat antibiotic resistance.

Dr. Mohan Babu, an assistant professor at the university, will lead the research and use the latest in proteomics and genomics technologies. Escherichia coli, or E. coli bacterium will be used to understand the interaction between genes and drugs resistant to bacteria.

“It’s really thrilling because I didn’t expect this funding to happen,” Babu said.

The funding, which is very competitive, comes from the federal government’s Canadian Institute of Health Research.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale attended the press conference Friday afternoon on behalf of federal Health Minister Jane Philpott.

Goodale stressed antibiotic resistant bugs are a threat to Canadians.

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“The clock is clearly ticking,  It’s an issue that the world scientific community recognizes as a matter of urgency so yes indeed it’s important that this research be done, and that it be done in a timely way before it’s overtaken by the negative factors and it’s too late to deal with it, so it’s important to deal with it now,” Goodale said.

READ MORE: How superbugs are threatening Canada and the world

Dr. Babu’s group of researchers have gathered from around the world. They will cross examine a total of 45-thousand E. coli gene combinations over five years. At least one of those combinations will be the strain that is strong enough to combat the antibiotic resistant strain.

“The goal is to find which compounds works better against which therapeutic targets, and once we know that then it can be moved forward to the clinic trial,” Babu said.

The results will then be passed onto drugs companies who will complete the clinical trials and ultimately change the type of antibiotics available to the general public.

“It’s an issue here, it’s an issue everywhere in the country. It’s human health and it’s also animal health where these issues are significant and Dr. Babu’s research will be of national and international significance,” Goodale added.