A radically simple idea may open the door to a new world of Antibiotics

The chip, an invention of Prof. Slava Epstein that may lead to Antibiotics discoveries

The ichip: helping to understand the ecology of bacteria in the natural world

Antibiotics from the ground up

Prof. Slava Epstein explains the ingenuity of his new device, the ichip. This device costs less than $10 to make, but opens up the possibility of new antibiotics.

“Bacteria make antibiotics naturally, which means that if you can grow new bacteria in a lab, the microbes can offer up new drugs. Unfortunately, for the past century, microbiologists have failed to unlock the secret to cultivating the vast majority of bacterial species. Now Epstein and his colleagues have found a way to make many of them thrive. ‘Everyone thought the solution would be high-tech,’ said Epstein. But the one that he and his colleagues have found is remarkably straightforward. They raise bacteria by giving them a comfortable place to grow — a disk or a box will do. A company they founded, called NovoBiotic, is now testing the antibiotics made by the bacteria in the hopes of putting them into clinical trials.”–STAT Article by Carl Zimmer

Read the full story: http://www.statnews.com/2015/12/03/antibiotics-bacteria-research/

Biology