Next generation genetics technology developed to counter the rise of antibiotic resistance

UC San Diego biologists leverage gene drive advances to stop genes responsible for drug resistance

University of California - San Diego

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Drug resistance has accelerated in recent years with the emergence of deadly bacteria and “superbugs.” UC San Diego biologists have developed a new CRISPR-based technology capable of removing antibiotic-resistant elements from populations of bacteria. 

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Credit: Bier Lab, UC San Diego

Antibiotic resistance (AR) has steadily accelerated in recent years to become a global health crisis. As deadly bacteria evolve new ways to elude drug treatments for a variety of illnesses, a growing number of “superbugs” have emerged, ramping up estimates of more than 10 million worldwide deaths per year by 2050.

Scientists are looking to recently developed technologies to address the pressing threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which are known to flourish in hospital settings, sewage treatment areas, animal husbandry locations and fish farms. University of California San Diego scientists have now applied cutting-edge genetics tools to counteract antibiotic resistance.

The laboratories of UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences Professors Ethan Bier and Justin Meyer have collaborated on a novel method of removing antibiotic-resistant elements from populations of bacteria. The researchers developed a new CRISPR-based technology similar to gene drives, which are being applied in insect populations to disrupt the spread of harmful properties, such as parasites that cause malaria. The new Pro-Active Genetics (Pro-AG) tool called pPro-MobV is a second-generation technology that uses a similar approach to disable drug resistance in populations of bacteria.

“With pPro-MobV we have brought gene-drive thinking from insects to bacteria as a population engineering tool,” said Bier, a faculty member in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. “With this new CRISPR-based technology we can take a few cells and let them go to neutralize AR in a large target population.”

In 2019 Bier’s lab collaborated with Professor Victor Nizet’s group (UC San Diego School of Medicine) to develop the initial Pro-AG concept, in which a genetic cassette is introduced and copied between the genomes of bacteria to inactivate their antibiotic-resistant components. The cassette launches itself into an AR gene carried on plasmids, circular types of DNA that replicate within cells, thereby restoring sensitivity of the bacteria to antibiotic treatments.

Building upon this idea, Bier and his colleagues developed a follow-on system that spreads the antibiotic CRISPR cassette components via conjugal transfer, which is similar to mating in bacteria. As they described in the Nature journal npj Antimicrobials and Resistance, the researchers showed that this next-generation pPro-MobV system can exploit a naturally created bacterial mating tunnel between cells to spread the key disabling elements. They demonstrated the process working within bacterial biofilms, which are communities of microorganisms that contaminate various surfaces and can be extremely difficult to remove under conventional cleaning methods. Biofilms also contribute to the spread of disease and are created in the majority of infections that lead to serious disease, in part because biofilms help combat antibiotics by creating a protective layer of cells that is difficult for antibiotics to diffuse through. The new technology therefore carries potential in health care settings, environmental remediation and microbiome engineering.

“The biofilm context for combatting antibiotic resistance is particularly important since this is one of the most challenging forms of bacterial growth to overcome in the clinic or in enclosed environments such as aquafarm ponds and sewage treatment plants,” said Bier. “If you could reduce the spread from animals to humans you could have a significant impact on the antibiotic resistance problem since roughly half of it is estimated to come from the environment.”

The researchers also found that components of the active genetic system could be carried and delivered by bacteriophage, or phage, which are viruses that are natural evolutionary competitors of bacteria. Phage are being specially engineered to combat antibiotic resistance by evading bacterial defenses and inserting disruptive factors inside cells. pPro-MobV elements, the researchers envision, would work in conjunction with such engineered phage viruses. This active genetic platform also can incorporate a highly efficient process known as homology-based deletion as a safety measure to remove the gene cassette if desired.

“This technology is one of the few ways that I’m aware of that can actively reverse the spread of antibiotic-resistant genes, rather than just slowing or coping with their spread,” said Meyer, a professor in the Department of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution, who studies the evolutionary adaptations of bacteria and viruses.

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Journal

npj Antimicrobials and Resistance

DOI

10.1038/s44259-026-00181-z 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Cells

Article Title

A conjugal gene drive-like system efficiently suppresses antibiotic resistance in a bacterial population

Article Publication Date

2-Feb-2026

COI Statement

Professor Ethan Bier is a co-founder of the start-up company Agragene.

 

More help for southeastern dairies

USDA awards $3.45 million to support region’s dairy business innovation initiative

University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture

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Members of the SDBII team attended the Georgia Dairy Conference in January. Shown left to right are Ansley Roper, the University of Tennessee; Tori Embry and Melissa Huggett, both of the Kentucky Dairy Development Council; Brittany Whitmire, North Carolina State University; David Bilderback and SDBII Director Liz Eckelkamp, both of the University of Tennessee. 

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Credit: Photo courtesy UTIA.

The University of Tennessee Center for Dairy Advancement and Sustainability (CDAS), directed by Associate Professor Elizabeth Eckelkamp of the Department of Animal Science, has received an additional $3.45 million in funding for the Southeast Dairy Business Innovation Initiative (SDBII). This program, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service, was established in 2019 through funds allocated under the 2018 Farm Bill.

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture was one of four successful applicants to this program, the others being Center for Dairy Research in Wisconsin; the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets Division; and Fresno State University. Together, these programs establish a nationwide network to facilitate regional efforts to support dairy businesses in the development, production, marketing and distribution of dairy products.

Since the initial award, Eckelkamp’s multi-institutional team of researchers and specialists has received more than $52.7 million in funding, resulting in more than $21 million awarded back to the dairy community through grant programs. This includes 229 individual grants to dairy businesses focused on planning for new enterprises, investing in processing and dairy production technology and improving farm infrastructure. Within the recently awarded grant, Eckelkamp and her team of 46 experts will evaluate and maintain previous programs, continue to offer grants to dairy businesses, and expand previous marketing and branding activities through a dairy-specific Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning toolkit.

The University of Tennessee is partnering with North Carolina State University and the University of Kentucky as well as the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development and Kentucky Dairy Development Council to engage communities in dairy opportunities. The focus is leadership and educational opportunities for dairy owners and operators, development of checklists and marketing tools and continued support for internships.

Eckelkamp says the funding is much needed to support the dairy industry in the Southeast and ensure the availability of regionally produced dairy products. “We are thrilled to receive continued funding for the Southeast Dairy Business Innovation Initiative. The feedback we receive from awardees and participants highlights the major impact SDBII has had on individual communities and across the region. Through CDAS and SDBII, we hope to keep helping our dairy community move forward. We know these funds will continue to encourage and improve our regional sustainability.”

For more information on the SDBII program, visit the program’s website: sdbii.tennessee.edu or email sdbiigrants@utk.edu.

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.

 

Making hydrogen fuel cells ‘less precious’

Washington University in St. Louis

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By Leah Shaffer

Japan and California have embraced hydrogen fuel-cell technologies, a form of renewable energy that can be used in vehicles and for supplying clean energy to manufacturing sectors. But the technology remains expensive due to its reliance on precious metals such as platinum.

Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are working on this challenge, finding ways to stabilize ubiquitous iron components for use in fuel cells to replace the expensive platinum metals, which would make hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles more affordable.

“The hydrogen fuel cell has been successfully commercialized in Japan and California in the U.S.,” said Gang Wu, a professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering. “But these vehicles struggle to compete with the battery vehicle and combustion engine vehicle, with cost being the main issue.”

A typical $30,000 gas-powered vehicle could cost $70,000 as a fuel-cell vehicle, he estimated. The platinum catalysts are the most expensive component, accounting for about 45% of the total cost of fuel cell stacks. Notably, the precious metal in fuel cells cannot benefit from economies of scale, and a significant rise in demand for fuel-cell power systems further drives up the already high price of platinum.

In research published in Nature Catalysis, Wu and his team outlined how they stabilize iron catalysts for use in the fuel cell, which would lower costs for fuel-cell vehicles and other niche applications such as low-altitude aviation and artificial intelligence data centers.

Hydrogen fuel cells work to generate electricity with zero emissions via hydrogen and oxygen, two constituent parts of water. By way of a catalyst, the two elements produce water, electricity and heat until the on-board hydrogen is depleted, while oxygen is drawn from unlimited air. People can refuel their hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles at large stations, similar to how fleets of school buses refuel at the same central station, so the refueling infrastructure challenge can be readily overcome. It’s clean energy, but the precious metals used in the vehicle can add significantly to the total cost, preventing its widespread adoption.

According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, fuel cells can extract more than 60% of their fuel’s energy while internal combustion engines recover less than 20% of gasoline’s energy. That efficiency can reach 85% when the heat a fuel cell generates is also harnessed for electricity.

Unlike electric battery-run cars, people can’t recharge fuel-cell vehicles using their home electricity sources. So there needs to be affordable and easily accessible hydrogen refueling infrastructure for this clean tech to take off. Making use of plentiful and affordable iron catalysts would go a long way to lowering those costs. But first, researchers needed to make iron more stable to handle the fuel-cell chemistry involved.

Wu and his team did so by creating a chemical vapor of gases that can stabilize the iron catalysts during thermal activation, an innovative approach to significantly improve catalyst stability while maintaining adequate activity in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The result vastly improved iron catalysts’ durability along with increased energy density and life span. The team chose PEMFCs among different fuel types because they best serve heavy-duty vehicles, things like transport trucks, buses and construction equipment — vehicles that already go to centralized fueling centers. It’s most affordable and efficient for the technology to be first adopted by heavy-duty vehicle fleets, which would further lower costs as it becomes widespread and further efficiencies of scale come on board.

“After suffering from the poor stability for decades, now we were able to address the critical problem,” said Wu, who explained that next steps will include further refining their processes to make iron catalysts even better than precious metals for the fuel cells of tomorrow.

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Financial support for this research includes: Washington University in St. Louis, National Science Foundation (CBET-2223467), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office.

Zeng Y, Qi M, Liang J, Hermann RP, Yu H, Zachman MJ, Chang CW, Lucero M, Feng Z, Cullen D, Myers DJ, Dodelet JP, Wu G. Regulating in situ gaseous deposition to construct highly durable Fe–N–C oxygen-reduction fuel cell catalysts. . Nat Catal (2026). DOI

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-026-01482-2

 

New study reveals how burn pit–related particulate matter triggers harmful lung inflammation

Findings provide new insight into respiratory risks faced by deployed service members

National Jewish Health

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DENVER – A new study from National Jewish Health helps explain how exposure to burn pit smoke and desert dust may damage the lungs of military service members deployed to regions such as Afghanistan and Iraq. The research, published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine(Opens in a new window), sheds light on why veterans exposed to these environments face higher rates of asthma and other long-term respiratory conditions.

Burn pits, which are used to dispose of waste during military operations, release tiny particles into the air. These particles can be inhaled deep into the lungs, but until now, scientists have not fully understood how they trigger lasting lung damage. In this study, researchers compared particulate matter collected from Afghanistan with similar desert dust from California to better understand their effects on lung immune cells.

The findings show that particles linked to burn pit exposure cause stronger inflammation and stress in lung immune cells than typical desert dust. These particles activate an immune response that can lead to ongoing inflammation and tissue damage, helping explain why some service members develop chronic breathing problems after deployment.

"This study provides important insight into how deployment-related particulate matter affects immune cells in the lungs," said Brian Day, PhD, vice president of research and, director of the Office of Research Innovation at National Jewish Health, and principal investigator of the study. “Our findings identify the Toll-like Receptor 2 (TLR2) as a key mediator of inflammation caused by burn pit–associated particulate matter and suggest that targeting this pathway may offer new strategies to protect or treat individuals exposed during military service."

Using pre-clinical monocyte cell lines and primary bone marrow–derived macrophages, researchers evaluated how Afghanistan desert particulate matter (APM) and California desert particulate matter (CPM) affect immune signaling and inflammatory responses. They measured the production of nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide and inflammatory cytokines, which are key drivers of lung inflammation and tissue damage.

The results showed that APM was significantly more toxic to macrophages than CPM, producing stronger oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. These findings suggest that deployment-related particulate exposure may place warfighters at heightened risk for long-term respiratory disease.

 Key findings include:

• APM triggered stronger nitric oxide and cytokine responses than CPM, indicating a more intense inflammatory reaction.
• Activation of TLR2 amplified inflammatory signaling, while blocking TLR2 reduced responses to APM exposure.
• APM increased pro-inflammatory (M1) macrophage markers, an effect that was diminished in macrophages lacking TLR2, highlighting the receptor’s central role in driving inflammation.

The research represents a significant step toward understanding the biological basis of deployment-related respiratory disease. It provides new information to help guide future diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for affected veterans and service members.

National Jewish Health is the leading respiratory hospital in the nation delivering excellence in multispecialty care and world class research. Founded in 1899 as a nonprofit hospital, National Jewish Health today is the only facility in the world dedicated exclusively to groundbreaking medical research and treatment of children and adults with respiratory, cardiac, immune and related disorders. Patients and families come to National Jewish Health from around the world to receive cutting-edge, comprehensive, coordinated care. To learn more, visit njhealth.org or the media resources page.

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Journal

Free Radical Biology and Medicine

DOI

10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2025.09.035 

Article Title

Pro-inflammatory and oxidative responses to burn pit relevant desert particulate matter in macrophages: A role for TLR2 signaling