The University of Bristol is committed to fighting the global challenge posed by the increasing problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and has received £17.2 million of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) AMR research funding (with £13 million from the UKRI 'Tackling AMR - A Cross-Council Initiative') to find effective and sustainable solutions to this urgent problem.
Antibiotics transformed healthcare in the 20th century and are still considered one of the greatest medical achievements of the era. Today, we still rely on antibiotics to treat everything from minor cuts to life-threatening bacterial infections and to prevent infection after surgery. These drugs drastically improved our quality of life and increased lifespan.
In the 21st century, antibiotic overuse and misuse has led to antibiotics rapidly becoming ineffective resulting in a fall in life expectancy. Antimicrobial resistance, specifically antibacterial resistance, now poses a global threat to human life. Resistance occurs when antibiotics are rendered ineffective against the bacteria they are engineered to fight.
We need urgent action to halt resistance and to accelerate new treatments for bacterial infection. The University of Bristol has a number of research projects, programmes and initiatives that are working towards understanding AMR better and finding solutions for this escalating global issue.
The AMR research community at Bristol ('Bristol AMR') is a cross-faculty research network supported by the University's Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research as one of their six Research Strands, which are funded through the Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF).
Research projects
Learn more about how the University of Bristol's research is contributing to the global fight against AMR.
National PhD Training Programme in AMR Research
The Medical Research Foundation National PhD Training Programme in AMR research, led by the University of Bristol, is training the next generation of AMR multidisciplinary researchers.
Preserving antimicrobials in human and veterinary medicine
Click on the link above to watch videos on how Bristol AMR investigators, Dr Ashley Hammond and Prof Kristen Reyher, are helping to steward and preserve the use of antimicrobials in primary care (for urinary tract infections in the elderly where there are concerns that the diagnosis and treatment may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic) and in veterinary medicine and farming.
Latest news in AMR research
Contact us
For all general enquiries, please email bristolamr-info@bristol.ac.uk