Fischbach explains his search for antibiotic-producing bacteria in the human gut

Fischbach explains his search for antibiotic-producing bacteria in the human gut

The bacteria in the human gut that produce antibiotics are the focus of a US$1 million W. M. Keck Foundation grant being led by Michael Fischbach, PhD, a faculty member in the UCSF School of Pharmacy.

He explains here the goal of the project: to identify antibiotics produced by gut bacteria and determine how these antibiotics affect the composition of the entire gut bacterial community.

Research results could help reveal the causes of and new treatments for:

  • Crohn's disease
  • obesity
  • diabetes
  • colorectal cancer

Fischbach's collaborators are from Stanford University and the University of California, San Diego. The two-year Medical Research Program grant began January 2011 and is titled, “Beyond the Human Microbiome: The human gut as an antibiotic discovery engine.”