Cows Hold Key To Antibiotics Of The Future: Cows Hold Key To Antibiotics Of The Future Linda Boniface Oyama — Aug 1, 2014 | Leave a comment Research work by a Nigerian student, Linda Boniface Oyama from Cross River State is trending in the UK and European media. Dr Sharon Huws who heads the team where Linda works says cows may hold the key to antibiotics of the future. As part of the worldwide effort, Dr Huws and her team at Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) are urgently taking action to tackle the growing threat of resistance to antibiotics and have characterised over 80 novel antimicrobials from microscopic bacteria in a cow’s rumen; with the potential to be used in treating bacterial infections in humans. Dr Sharon Huws, a Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Lecturer in animal Science at IBERS said; “The rumen houses a vast quantity of microbes which essentially degrade forages eaten by the animal and release nutrients for their growth. In the rumen the microbes work together as a partnership but often compete with each other. We have known for many years that some of the rumen microbes produce the antimicrobial bacteriocin, which aids their competitiveness in the rumen. Therefore it seemed likely that they also produced other antimicrobials which could potentially be used to treat human infections.” The rumen is a specialised compartment in the gut through which cows are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it prior to digestion in the stomach, principally through bacterial actions. Sheep and cows are known as ruminants, a word that comes from the Latin ruminare, which means to ‘chew twice’, and the process of regurgitating fermented grass and chewing it again is known as ‘chewing the cud’ which further breaks down cellulose in grass and stimulates digestion. The alarming increase in antibiotic resistance in disease causing bacteria, coupled with the decrease in drug discovery rate is now a serious medical challenge and it has been over 30 years since the last novel antibiotics were discovered. This coupled with the increase in resistance to existent antimicrobials is of major concern for human health. Dr Huws and her group have been working on this project for the last two years with the Nigerian government and are currently testing the efficiency of the isolated novel rumen antimicrobials; and she is also involved in a BBSRC Brazil partnering award of £50,000 over 4 years to co-operate on discovering antibiotics in rumen microbes. She has also recently received NRN life Sciences funding from the Welsh Government to continue this work and further the understanding of how these antimicrobials work and their potential to be used in treating bacterial infections in humans. We hail the Cross River State Government for her effort and hope that the Ministry of Science and technology continues to support this project and do not lose out on a potentially major scientific breakthrough. You can reach Dr Sharon Huws at this website aber.ac.uk/en/ibers/staff/hnh/ « Previous Article Man Wanted For Strangling Lover With Twine Original link Read More goo.gl/wC2Idh (y) ✍comment ☏share
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 12:22:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015