Lars Hestbjerg Hansen, professor and head of Section, has received a grant from Aarhus University Research Foundation, AUFF-NOVA, on 2 M DKK for the project ‘ORIGENE - ORIgin of antibiotic resistance and the misconception of resistance GENEs’.

In the latest WHO report on antimicrobial resistance, it was clearly stated that antimicrobial resistance is a serious threat to the global public health with 25,000 deaths and related costs of over €1.5 billion in healthcare expenses and productivity losses in Europe alone.

However, the origins of the responsible resistance genes are virtually unknown. Most bacteria are not natively resistant and in many instances newly developed resistance seems to have arisen through horizontal gene transfer, but from where?

This proposal challenges the notion that genes responsible for the emerging resistance problems originally evolved as resistance genes. Results obtained from this project will allow further basic understanding of microbial evolution by elucidating adaptations to antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The obtained knowledge in this study will also allow new insights into evolutionary mechanisms relevant to areas such as health and disease management through mediating bacterial virulence and pathogenicity.

For further information please contact: Lars Hestbjerg Hansen at lhha@envs.au.dk