AMR Awareness Week 18-24 November 2025

Meet the researchers tackling AMR and driving innovation from Africa to the World I 18-24 November 2025

TACKLING AMR WITH H3D’s CTAR TEAM

In the wake of World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week 2025 last month (18 - 24 November), we’re shining the spotlight on the Centre for Translational AMR Research (CTAR), a collaboration between the Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre, based at the University of Cape Town, and LifeArc, a self-funded medical research organisation based in the UK.

World AMR Awareness Week is one of the World Health Organisations’ (WHO) official health campaigns and commemorated annually between 18 and 24 November. The theme for this year’s campaign was ‘Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future’, underscoring the urgent need to take bold, united action to address AMR right now.

In order to find out more about AMR and the fight against it, we reached out to researchers, Dr Dirk Lamprecht, Dr Nicole Cardoso, Raygaanah Jacobs and Tanith Fester (biologists); as well as Dr Grant Boyle, Dr Tania Valentine, Dr Alexandra Plakas, Dr Sachin Mohite, Ph.D. , Ronewa Tshinavhe and Dr Donald Seanego (chemists), with a quick Q&A. 

See their responses below:

1. What are the leading causes of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)? 

The main cause for the emergence of AMR is the misuse and overuse of antibiotics. This occurs in both humans and in the livestock industry. Over-prescription and patient non-compliance is a major problem that has led to increasing cases of antibiotic resistance. Poor hygiene and infection control in health settings is also a significant contributor to the emergence of resistant nosocomial infections.

2. Why is AMR considered on eof the greatest current global health threats? 

Recent studies show that 1.91 million people are currently dying as a direct result of AMR, and failure to address the problem could result in 39 million deaths between 2025 and 2050 - equivalent to three people every minute. It is also estimated that AMR will reduce gross domestic product (GDP) by $1-3.4 trillion USD per year by 2030. The burden of AMR is highest in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and strategic actions, including better surveillance and stewardship are required to address the problem. Furthermore, the discovery of new antibiotics that can overcome clinical drug resistance is a critical component of the strategy to tackle this “silent pandemic.” This is of extraordinary importance for the African continent, as the incidence and prevalence of resistance are widespread.

Reference: The Lancet 2024, 404 (10459), 1199; DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01867-1

3. What are ESKAPE pathogens and why are they so dangerous?

ESKAPE stands for:

● Enterococcus faecium

● Staphylococcus aureus

● Klebsiella pneumoniae

● Acinetobacter baumannii

● Pseudomonas aeruginosa

● Enterobacterales spp.

Why they matter:

These pathogens are most commonly linked with serious hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections that are able to ‘escape’ available treatments. Diseases caused by these pathogens include hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia, complicated urinary tract infections, bacteraemia, septicaemia, osteomyelitis, skin, soft-tissue and structural infections etc.

4. How does CTAR seek to address AMR resistance?

The Centre for Translational AMR Research (CTAR) is a collaboration between the Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre, based at the University of Cape Town, and LifeArc, a self-funded medical research organisation based in the UK. The focus of the centre is to identify and develop new small-molecule drugs for the treatment of AMR infections. The partnership is also aimed at strengthening research capacity in Africa. Knowledge transfer from experienced LifeArc scientists as well as secondments of researchers from H3D to LifeArc to gain exposure to new techniques will help with the development of the researchers at H3D.

5. The overarching goal is to discover new antibiotics targeting multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. But, what does a typical day in the life of a scientist focusing on AMR drug discovery look like?

Chemist: As medicinal chemists, we use a range of chemistry techniques, primarily synthetic organic chemistry and data analysis tools, to design and synthesize novel biologically active and safe molecules to combat pathogens within the scope of AMR. We work in a multi-disciplinary project team, including biologists, and ADME scientists, who carry out biological testing, safety and pharmacokinetic profiling of these new target molecules. This data is then analysed and incorporated in the subsequent design cycle to further improve the chemical series, until a safe efficacious clinical candidate is delivered. Although this job is challenging and characterized by a high failure rate, we are driven by the opportunity to contribute to life-saving medicines.

Biologist: The daily tasks of a drug discovery microbiologist are variable, but generally involve the generation of data from different assays to progress projects and understand how compounds interact with their target pathogen/s. Key data routinely generated for compounds include the inhibitory activity (minimum inhibitory concentration – MIC), the killing activity (minimum bactericidal concentration – MBC), killing kinetics, activity against resistant clinical isolates, determination of resistance development (frequency of resistance (FoR) and spontaneous resistant mutant (SRM) generation) as well as inhibitory activity in the presence of serum. Once a putative target has been identified for a compound/series a host of experiments are performed to characterise and validate the target e.g. generation of CRISPRi strains. In addition to experimental work, data is compiled, analysed and shared with the project team in the form of reports and/or presentations.

6. What are some of the main milestones in the discovery process of new antibiotics? Which of these have been reached a) by the H3D team b) globally in the race against AMR?

a) H3D achievements:

In 2022 H3D, along with various partners, established the first fully integrated AMR drug discovery hub in Africa. We are able to run early-stage drug discovery projects in-house with the aim to deliver clinical candidates, from synthesis, biological testing, mode of action determination to the in vivo analysis of series safety and efficacy. A library of 72 different ESKAPE strains, along with their global and local clinical isolates have been established, this achievement is a vital step which should fast track the identification of new chemical matter discovered here in Africa.

b) Global milestones:

The situation is urgent and the need for new antibiotics, specifically against resistant pathogens, is of utmost importance. Although, 16 new antibiotics have been approved by the FDA between 2017 and 2025, none of these have a novel mode of action. All of these drugs target pathways which have marketed medication. The most notable global milestone is the crucial spotlight which has been shone on AMR and resultant global collaborative fight which has begun to tackle this challenge.

Reference: Antibiotics 2025, 14(10), 997; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics14100997