Selection for antibiotic resistance via exposure to mixtures of low concentrations of antibiotics

Project supported by CARe 2016- involving Joakim Larsson, Thomas Backhaus, Carl-Fredrik Flach, Erik Kristiansson and Edward Moore as principal investigators.

In the environment, antibiotics almost always occur in mixtures, where each antibiotic can contribute to the overall selection pressure on exposed bacteria. Understanding how antibiotics with similar or different modes of action are affecting bacteria is critical to estimate risks for the types of exposures we expect in the environment. In this project we will first characterize the sensitivity of a range of different bacteria to a range of antibiotics. Then, we will proceed by evaluating how defined combinations of antibiotics act, in order to develop models to better predict the effect of various mixtures.