Microbial pathogens cause damage at a molecular and cellular level, causing infectious disease that can have a devastating effect on individual patients and their communities.
Many factors, including antimicrobial resistance pose an ongoing challenge for drug discovery researchers to react to, and where possible anticipate therapeutic solutions against the evolution of bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites.
By bringing together world-renowned researchers and progressive technology, we are committed to fostering innovative research that addresses a globally urgent clinical need.
The Therapeutic Area of Infectious Diseases captures a broad spectrum of our research on infections arising from fungi, bacterium, viruses and parasites.
The Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) Crises by far overrepresents global fatalities in this disease area, with 5 million attributable deaths recorded annually. The Priority-Driven Program, Sydney Anti-Bacterial Accelerator (SABA) is the CDDI’s focused response to an urgent need for new anti-biotics in partnership with the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute. Co-led by Dr Matt Doyle and Prof Jeff Errington, SABA has established a critical mass of researchers across five sub-project teams to develop novel antibiotics and virulence inhibitors of bacterial cell envelope targets.
Our researchers use diverse techniques, sustainably collaborating across the Schools of Pharmacy, Chemistry, and Medical Sciences to synergistically reach their shared goals, encompassing the drug discovery pipeline.
With the rise of the antimicrobial resistance crisis, the drugs we have are no longer working. In response, we’re trying to create a critical mass of research around new antibiotics and anti-virulence molecules that will act on bacterial cell envelope surface structures
SABA Co-leader, Senior Lecturer at the School of Medical Sciences
COVID-19 presented an urgent challenge to drug discovery, disrupting every aspect of life as we know it. In response, the CDDI and Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases created a COVID-19 Drug Discovery Group in 2020, connecting researchers from the Faculties of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and Health.
Publications from this group:
Founded in collaboration with the Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, our researchers are developing assays against invasive fungal infections and improving the stability of existing drugs. We are at the forefront of research around effective pan-fungal compounds.
