Antibiotics
1. History and mission
The discovery of antibiotics during the course of the 20th century was a milestone in the history of medicine. Today, a remarkable number of antibiotics still stem from the golden era of antibiotics development, which lasted roughly from 1945-1970. Unfortunately, antibiotics became victims of their own success; due to many treatment options and low prices, companies ceased to develop novel antibiotics, because other medical fields offered more attractive markets. In parallel, the existing antibiotics were misused as food additives in the animal industry and were prescribed to humans without being necessary. As a consequence, antimicrobial resistance could spread worldwide, resulting in multiresistant pathogens which can no longer be treated with the current arsenal of antibiotics. In particular Gram-negative pathogens such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa have emerged as dangerous multiresistant strains in western hospitals including Switzerland.
In 2015, biotechnet and the NTN SwissBiotech founded a novel platform dedicated to antibiotics. The mission of the Antibiotics platform is to bundle the existing expertise of antibiotic research in Switzerland with a focus on the discovery and development of novel antibiotics to treat multidrug resistant bacteria. Networking activities facilitated through the Antibiotics platform will lead to novel research co-operations between industry and academia. Together, we strive to innovate antibiotic development.
2. Platform members
The platform is lead by Prof. Dr. Markus Seeger and has currently the following members
Industry
Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd., Dr. Jürg Dreier
BioVersys, Dr. Michel Pieren
Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Dr. Daniel Ritz
Juvabis, Dr. Sven Hobbie
Laves-Arzneimittel GmbH, Dr. Dieter Grimmecke
leadXpro, Prof. Michael Hennig
LimmaTech Biologics AG, Dr. Michael Kowarik
Polyphor, Dr. Daniel Obrecht
Resistell, Dr. Danuta Cichocka
rqmicro, Dr. Hans-Anton Keserue
SpheroBiotics, Dr. Irene Wüthrich and Dr. Steven Schmitt
SynphaBase AG, Dr. Arthur Bodenmüller
Academia
EPF Lausanne, Institute of Physics, Prof. Dr. Giovanni Dietler
ETH Zurich, Institute of Microbiology, Prof. Dr. Jörn Piel
ETH Zurich, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Altmann
ETH Zurich, Department of Health Sciences and Technology , Dr. Mathias Schmelcher
FHNW School of Life Sciences, Institute for Chemistry and Bioanalytics, Prof. Dr. Daniel Gygax, Prof. Dr. Eric Kübler and Dr. Natascha Kappeler
HES-SO Valais-Wallis, Institute of Life Technologies, Prof. Dr. Origène Nyanguile
ZHAW Life Sciences und Facility Management, Center of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Prof. Dr. Rainer Riedl
University of Basel, Biozentrum, Prof. Dr. Christoh Dehio, Prof. Dr. Urs Jenal, Prof. Dr. Dirk Bumann, Prof. Dr. Sebastian Hiller, Prof. Dr. Médéric Diard
University of Basel, Department of Chemistry, Dr. Marc Creus
University of Berne, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, PD Dr. Tamis Darbre
University of Berne, Institute for Veterinary Bacteriology, Prof. Dr. Vincent Perreten
University of Palermo, Prof. Dr. Anna Maria Puglia
University of Zurich, Department of Chemistry, Prof. Dr. Karl Gademann
University of Zurich, Institute of Medical Microbiology, Prof. Dr. Markus Seeger
Other organizations
BaselArea.swiss, Senior Project Manager, Dr. Ralf Dümpelmann
SNSF NRP72 program, Head of knowledge transfer, Stéphane Praz
How to become partner
The partnership fee is CHF 500.- per year. Please contact Prof. Dr. Markus Seeger for details.
3. Events
Upcoming events
Past events
12. September 2018 (afternoon)
Antibiotics brought by NTN SwissBiotech
Innovation Forum at BASEL LIFE 2018
26. April 2018
Aiming for novel antibiotic approaches: Challenges, new technologies and potential collaborations.
Innovation Event organized by BaselArea.Swiss
14. November 2017
Platform meeting at Vetsuisse Faculty, Bern.
16. October 2017
NTN Swiss Biotech Antibiotics Workshop, Bern.
Organized by the Swiss Biotech Association.
20. June 2016
Platform meeting at Polyphor, Allschwil.
18. November 2015
Olten Meeting 2015. Antibiotics and Bioprinting.
08. September 2015
Founding meeting of the Antibiotics Platform in Bern.
4. CTI-Projects of platform members
Swissbodies for antibiotics drug discovery.
leadXpro in collaboration with Prof. Markus Seeger
Development of early lead-like molecules targeting a bacterial transcriptional regulator to treat infections caused by the Gram-negative pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii.
BioVersys in collaboration with Dr. Richard Kammerer, PSI
5. Read more
