Fighting infectious disease
Antimicrobial resistance is reducing the effectiveness of life-saving antibiotics. It’s projected to cause as many deaths as cancer by 2050. Support us to find better ways to diagnose and treat infectious disease, before it’s too late.
Are we heading towards a health emergency?
Antibiotics and vaccines have saved billion of lives since their invention. Without them, our lifespans would be dramatically reduced and we would see loved-ones dying of preventable and treatable diseases. However, we are now facing a major, potentially catastrophic, new problem – antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses and parasites, are becoming increasingly hard to treat with conventional medicines, such as antibiotics. As they become more and more exposed to medicines, they are more likely to become resistant towards them. This means it’s harder to treat common infections like UTIs, and to perform life-saving procedures including cancer chemotherapy, caesarean section, hip replacements and other surgeries.
We need to make the diagnosis and treatment of disease more precise. It is vital that the right drugs are administered promptly and at the right dosages, so that diseases do not survive and build up resistance.
Together, we can make a difference
At the University of Southampton, we are working hard to improve the way we respond to infectious diseases. Our strategy focuses on faster and more accurate ways of diagnosing disease; novel ways of vaccinating and revolutionary treatments for infection.
We are also proud to lead the National Biofilms Innovation Centre. Biofilms are communities of organisms that form a super strong infection and are very difficult to treat. They are particularly common after surgeries where a prosthetic or implant is fitted, such as hip replacements, and can go onto cause diseases like sepsis. Our research is finding new ways to infiltrate and destroy these infections.
Your support would help us to accelerate the pace of our research into infectious diseases; we must act now, before it’s too late.
Fund PhD research
Support us to research how innovative bubble technology could cure bone infections.
Fund new equipment
Help upgrade our equipment, for faster and more accurate insights.
Related case studies
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iFast: Faster, more accurate drug selection to stop infection in its tracks
Innovation at the University of Southampton is speeding up accurate drug prescription…