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New high-resolution structures of the bacterial ribosome determined by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago show that a single water molecule may be the cause-and possible solution-of antibiotic resistance.

Healthcare responses to the novel coronavirus may be hastening another long looming public health threat, writes Jeremy Hsu The global threat of antimicrobial resistant bacteria and other superbugs is worsening as many patients admitted to hospital with covid-19 receive antibiotics to keep secondary bacterial infections in check.

Globally, the USA has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths,1 and still needs to simultaneously respond to another looming potential pandemic. The rise in multidrug-resistant bacterial infections that are undetected, undiagnosed, and increasingly untreatable threatens the health of people in the USA and globally. In 2020 and beyond, we cannot afford to ignore antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Researchers from The Institute for Integrative Systems Biology have discovered a new gene family of antimicrobial peptides (small proteins) -the Blattellicins- in a German cockroach (Blattella germanica). The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, may help to understand how these insects can live in unsanitary environments and defend themselves against the fungal and bacterial pathogens they encounter via the beneficial symbiotic organisms that they harbor.