SOUTHAMPTON researchers have been given a huge boost in their life-saving battle to tackle antibiotic- resistant bacteria.

They have secured £2.8m for a dedicated infection lab.

The overuse of antibiotics means they are becoming less effective and has led to the emergence of strains of bacteria that have become immune to treatment, known as antimicrobial resistance.

More than 5,000 people in the UK die from these infections every year – with concerns new strains of bacteria may emerge that cannot be treated by any existing antibiotics.

University Hospital Southampton and the University of Southampton’s Global Network for Anti-Microbial Resistance and Infection Prevention (UoS NAMRIP) are set to develop state-of-the-art research facilities to tackle that threat on the frontline.

“These bacteria have worked the current drugs out and they will do the same again,” said Professor Robert Read, director of the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre and lead on the funding bid.

“We have to keep finding new ways in, fast, but developing completely new treatments like ours will need completely new resources like this lab.

“By bridging the gap between experimental antimicrobial studies in our NIHR Clinical Research Facility, the UoS-based National Biofilm Innovation Centre and the clinical frontline it will speed up access to, and development of, new treatments.”

Southampton is already at the forefront of world-leading clinical research in infectious diseases through developments such as genetically-modified ‘friendly’ bacteria that can protect against meningitis.

The £2.8 million funding is part of a £32 million package awarded to 10 sites nationally by the Department of Health and Social Care as part of its 20-year vision and five-year national plan on antimicrobial resistance.