Beyond antibiotics

Shu Lam, an Australian PhD student, has developed polymers--specifically, structurally nanoengineered antimicrobial peptide polymers (SNAPPs)--that compromise bacterias' cell membranes and cause them to rupture. The structures are too large to affect bodily cells.


The green splotches are the SNAPPs. The red rods are bacteria with one being shown to have been destroyed by the SNAPPs.

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