Cooperation on antibiotics

Cooperation on the sleeping pandemic

CARe, Center for Antibiotic Resistance Research, broadens and becomes the basis for a common focus area that also includes Chalmers, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Regional Development at VGR. This is the result of an agreement between representatives of academia and healthcare. – This means a very exciting new start for CARe, which will be a matter for Gothenburg rather than just GU, explains Joakim Larsson, director of CARe.

FOR SIX YEARS, the UGOT centers have had funding from the Vice-Chancellor. Now the investment is over and the idea is for the centers to stand on their own feet. This applies, among other things, to CARe, the Center for Research on Antibiotic Resistance, which receives high marks in two recent evaluations, says director Joakim Larsson, professor of environmental pharmacology. – Among other things, the center has participated in 94 research projects, which in total have raised more than SEK 400 million in external funds, and of which 84 percent have been coordinated by CARe. The center has attracted more than 140 master's students and led to 16 doctoral dissertations. We have attracted national and global attention and have been able to influence international policy. Not managing our brand and the intellectual infrastructure built up here would be very unwise, as our future partners agree.

IT IS THE collaboration group for the Sahlgrenska Academy, the Faculty of Science, Chalmers, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Regional Development at VGR that has decided to make antibiotic resistance a common focus area, explains Henrik Hagberg, vice dean at Sahlgrenska Academy. – We want to take advantage of the potential at the two universities as well as in healthcare, which provides new opportunities for translational research and clinical studies. Exactly what the collaboration will look like is not yet clear, above all, the financing of the administrative support has not been resolved. GU has been responsible for this for six years, but both Chalmers and the Västra Götaland region have shown interest in contributing.

Joakim Larsson emphasizes the importance of the interdisciplinary breadth that already exists at the center. – But the fact that CARe is now becoming even broader means, of course, many new interesting opportunities, he points out.

Illustration: KRISTINA EDGREN

A close collaboration, without sharp boundaries between different disciplines, is a strength.

JOAKIM LARSSON FREDRIK WESTERLUND, professor of chemical biology at Chalmers, believes that there is much to be gained with the collaboration. – Antibiotic resistance is sometimes called the “sleeping pandemic” and shares problems with the climate crisis: it is a very serious challenge but does not develop as quickly as the covid-19 pandemic, which makes it more difficult to mobilize really strong measures. I have actually been a little jealous of CARe, which has addressed this issue in such a very interdisciplinary way and is really looking forward to our collaboration. Chalmers has a lot to contribute, for example in chemistry, community building, architecture, diagnostics, materials development and of course the AI area. A close collaboration, without sharp boundaries between different disciplines, is a strength, as I see it.

According to the coordination group’s decision, the collaboration will start no later than January 2023.