Jan 28, 2026
B CUBE Researchers Receive BMFTR GO-Bio Funding To Develop New Strategy Against Antibiotic Resistance
Prof. Michael Schlierf and Dr. Ekaterina Vorobevskaia
Antibiotic resistance is a growing global problem. Bacteria are evolving to withstand antibiotics, making infections increasingly difficult to treat. Research by Dr. Ekaterina Vorobevskaia and Prof. Michael Schlierf has helped uncover the molecular mechanisms by which bacteria gain antibiotic resistance. Now, with support from the GO-Bio funding program of the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), the team will develop new tools against multiresistant bacteria.
The Schlierf group focuses on the molecular interactions within the integron system – a mechanism that allows bacteria to rapidly adapt to changing environments, including gaining multiple antibiotic resistances. “It was known that some bacteria adapt more rapidly to multiple antibiotics, likely because of the differences in the bacterial integron system,” says Prof. Michael Schlierf, research group leader at the B CUBE – Center for Molecular Bioengineering and Professor for Molecular Biophysics at TU Dresden.
In her PhD thesis, Dr. Ekaterina Vorobevskaia uncovered a regulatory mechanism that explains these differences in integron efficiency. Based on these findings, the researchers developed a novel clinical approach. “Right now, antibiotic treatments are like an arms race – the treatments must outpace the rate at which bacteria develop resistance and collect the resistance genes in their integron library. Our approach would give the treatment more leverage,” says Dr. Vorobevskaia.
The clinical concept envisions a newly developed compound that would be used alongside long-term or repeated antibiotic treatment. The compound would drastically reduce the efficiency of bacterial adaptation through the integron system. In this way, it would prevent bacteria from spreading antibiotic resistance among themselves. Such an approach could give antibiotics enough time to eliminate the infection completely.
“The GO-Bio funding will support us in conducting a proof-of-concept study to develop a compound suitable for pre-clinical studies. It is a vital step on the long path toward translating our findings into a clinical application,” says Dr. Vorobevskaia.
About the BMFTR GO-Bio initial Funding Program
The BMFTR GO-Bio initial program supports research projects that aim to identify and develop ideas for the commercial exploitation of life sciences research. The program focuses on areas such as therapeutic agents, diagnostic reagents, platform technologies, and research tools, supporting projects from their early conceptual design through feasibility assessment and evaluation of commercial potential.