Gautam Dantas

Three antibiotics that, individually, are not effective against a drug-resistant staph infection can kill the deadly pathogen when combined as a trio, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. They have killed the bug — methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) — in test tubes and laboratory mice, and believe the same strategy may work in people.

Scientists, including researchers from Washington University School of Medicine, have found antibiotic resistance genes in the bacterial flora of a South American tribe that never before had been exposed to antibiotic drugs. The findings suggest that bacteria in the human body have had the ability to resist antibiotics since long before such drugs were ever used to treat disease.

Six researchers at Washington University are being honored as outstanding scientists by the Academy of Science-St. Louis. University recipients are faculty members Ralph Quatrano, Jennifer K. Lodge, Samuel Achilefu, Charles M. Hohenberg, Gautam Dantas and Steven Teitelbaum (right), who received a lifetime achievement award.

Bacteria that naturally live in the soil have a vast collection of genes to fight off antibiotics, but they are much less likely to share these genes than infectious bacteria, a new study by researchers at the School of Medicine has revealed. Shown is senior author Gautam Dantas, PhD.