Possible alternative to antibiotics for treating corneal infections

A University of Nottingham researcher has discovered a potential alternative than antibiotics to treat corneal infections.

Dr Darren Ting used antimicrobial peptide drugs to treat corneal infections, which effectively killed bacteria grown on laboratory dishes faster than conventional antibiotics.

Jointly funded by Fight for Sight and the Medical Research Council, the project will now focus on developing the molecules into drugs that can be used in clinics.

Ting said: ‘We hope to one day bring this compound into the clinic as a an easy to apply treatment for patients with corneal infections. An attractive characteristic of this class of antimicrobials is that they are broad-spectrum – meaning if they work on bacteria, we may be able to modify them to also treat other types of infection in the future.’