Optimising antibiotic administration against difficult-to-treat infections caused by the Gram-negative 'superbug' Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The ‘superbug’ P. aeruginosa causes life-threatening infections in critically-ill patients and people with cystic fibrosis. This problem is exacerbated by a shortage of new antibiotics and inappropriate use of antibiotics. To address the clinical need presented by these difficult-to-treat infections, substantial efforts are required to maximise the efficacy of and minimise resistance emergence to currently available antibiotics. This project applied modern principles of antimicrobial pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics to currently available antibiotics and utilised dynamic in vitro infection models to generate essential information required for the rational design of dosing strategies that maximise bacterial killing and suppress the emergence of resistance.