17th JPIAMR transnational call for research projects - AMR Interventions 2024 (IMPACT)

General Information

• Project title: Tackling AMR in Helicobacter pylori
• Type: Project looking for partner
• Organisation: Technical University of Munich
• Country: Germany (DE)
• Career stage: Other.

Research area

• Scientific area(s) of the call:
  1. Topic 2: Improve and/or, compare and/or evaluate strategies, technologies, treatments, methods, protocols or data collection based on existing interventions, aiming to prevent or reduce the emergence or spread of antibacterial or antifungal resistance or to treat/cure infections caused by resistant bacteria/fungi and recommend new policies.
• Subtopics:
  1. Improve and/or compare and/ or evaluate the effectiveness of existing interventions (e.g. cost effectiveness clinical utility, socio-economic adaptability, reducing AMR emergence, spread, transmission, treatment etc.)
  2. Identify the barriers to uptake, including factors leading to the success or failure of previously run pilot interventions, and when applicable design solutions to overcome them.

• One Health Setting:

  Human Health

• Keywords:

  Helicobacter pylor; H. pylori; Drug repurposing; Drug repositioning; New therapies

• Brief description of your expertise / expertise you are looking for:

  Our research team brings extensive experience in the study of Helicobacter pylori and its role in carcinogenesis and the immunological response of the human body. Our expertise is based on extensive studies both in vitro (e.g. bacterial culture, cell culture, organoids) and in vivo, with a particular focus on well-established strain collection, assays and mouse models. Through this work, we have gained deep insights into the complex interactions between the pathogen and its host, which are invaluable for the development of novel therapies. As part of our efforts to broaden the scope of our research, we are now looking for experts in the field of animal health. Our goal is to establish partnerships with scientists working on Helicobacter species in various mammals (such as dogs, cats, horses, and pigs). We are particularly interested in groups who would like to take up the challenge of working with us to explore how human medicines can be used effectively as veterinary therapies.

• Brief description of your project / the project you would like to join:

  Our research focuses on the challenge posed by Helicobacter pylori, particularly due to its high resistance rates to the most commonly used antibiotics such as metronidazole, clarithromycin, and levofloxacin. These resistance rates are not only a serious problem in the treatment of infections, but H. pylori is also a major risk factor for the development of gastric carcinomas. Against this background of carcinogenesis and the problem of high resistance rates, we have developed a high throughput screening assay to identify new drugs. This assay allows us to screen various libraries of FDA-approved compounds to identify agents that can inhibit the growth of H. pylori. The identification of such compounds opens up new ways to effectively expand current therapeutic approaches. Our first findings from screening have already yielded promising compounds that we now plan to validate both in vitro and in vivo. We also aim to identify and further investigate the potential targets in H. pylori to develop a deeper understanding of their mechanisms of action. Finally, we plan to test these compounds against antibiotic-resistant H. pylori strains to evaluate potential new therapeutic alternatives. The discovery of such compounds could not only be a good option in human medicine but also offer a very good opportunity to treat Helicobacter species in other mammals and reduce the use of antibiotics.

Prof. Markus Gerhard

• Organisation: Technical University of Munich
• Position: Group leader
• E-mail: markus.gerhard@tum.de
• Phone: +49 89 4140-2477
• Web: mikrobio.med.tum.de/de/home/forschung/ag-gerhard