Until now, antibiotics research has involved cultivating pathogenic bacteria in the laboratory and then studying them - under optimal but artificial conditions. New technical developments make it possible to study bacteria in their natural environment, i.e. directly in infected human tissue. In the case of AntiResist, this comes from patients from the USB who are being treated for an infection. The approach is now from "patient to drug" instead of the traditional "drug to patient".

This approach was tested in the PROSA study, which has now been completed (see right). As a pilot study, it provided important empirical values for establishing the procedures and requirements for data acquisition, data transfer and data evaluation of the tissue samples analysed for Staphylococcus aureus. The new research approach poses a number of challenges and requires innovative data solutions.

In recent months, the research group's collaboration with the USB Clinical Data Warehouse, the Biozentrum, and the DKF has made great progress in the collection and development of the complex data structure and data infrastructure. All this experience is now being brought into the NCCR AntiResist project, with the aim of studying additional bacteria and linking them to clinical outcomes. Specifically, the PROSA study is currently being expanded to include other pathogens: E. coli, P. aeruginosa and K. aerogenes .

In the long term, it is AntiResist's goal to develop new therapy options on the basis of all these data and to investigate them in clinical trials.