This is a timely and essential companion to the recently published Antimicrobial Resistance in the 21st Century, Second Edition. Antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to global population health, with government reports projecting it could result in over 10 million deaths in the next 35 years. Development of new agents to combat this threat is one of the WHO's top priorities, but in 2017, it conceded that the current drug development pipeline was insufficient to mitigate the threat. This book discusses recent progress and bolster new agent discovery and development, by providing researchers and students who will soon enter the field with a thorough guide to the advancements made in the last decade. Coverage includes new systemic antimicrobials approved since 2010, with detailed analysis of antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics, as well as agents in development for future use. Discussion of each drug will include its chemical nature, pharmacology/pharmacokinetics, antimicrobial spectrum, dosage, adverse reactions, drug interactions, microbial resistance, indications, clinical efficacy compared to older agents, and lists of similar agents with cost comparison. This volume is designed for researchers and students of infectious disease and medical microbiology, as well as clinicians in need of a comprehensive guide to newly developed agents.

This volume presents a broad panorama of the current status of research of invertebrate animals considered belonging to the phylum Cnidaria, such as hydra, jellyfish, sea anemone, and coral. In this book the Cnidarians are traced from the Earth’s primordial oceans, to their response to the warming and acidifying oceans. Due to the role of corals in the carbon and calcium cycles, various aspects of cnidarian calcification are discussed. The relation of the Cnidaria with Mankind is approached, in accordance with the Editors’ philosophy of bridging the artificial schism between science, arts and Humanities. Cnidarians' encounters with humans result in a broad spectrum of medical emergencies that are reviewed. The final section of the volume is devoted to the role of Hydra and Medusa in mythology and art.

Historically, the first observation of a transmissible lytic agent that is specifically active against a bacterium (Bacillus anthracis) was by a Russian microbiologist Nikolay Gamaleya in 1898. At that time, however, it was too early to make a connection to another discovery made by Dmitri Ivanovsky in 1892 and Martinus Beijerinck in 1898 on a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco plants. Thus the viral world was discovered in two of the three domains of life, and our current understanding is that viruses represent the most abundant biological entities on the planet. The potential of bacteriophages for infection treatment have been recognized after the discoveries by Frederick Twort and Felix d’Hérelle in 1915 and 1917. Subsequent phage therapy developments, however, have been overshadowed by the remarkable success of antibiotics in infection control and treatment, and phage therapy research and development persisted mostly in the former Soviet Union countries, Russia and Georgia, as well as in France and Poland. The dramatic rise of antibiotic resistance and especially of multi-drug resistance among human and animal bacterial pathogens, however, challenged the position of antibiotics as a single most important pillar for infection control and treatment. Thus there is a renewed interest in phage therapy as a possible additive/alternative therapy, especially for the infections that resist routine antibiotic treatment. The basis for the revival of phage therapy is affected by a number of issues that need to be resolved before it can enter the arena, which is traditionally reserved for antibiotics. Probably the most important is the regulatory issue: How should phage therapy be regulated? Similarly to drugs? Then the co-evolving nature of phage-bacterial host relationship will be a major hurdle for the production of consistent phage formulae. Or should we resort to the phage products such as lysins and the corresponding engineered versions in order to have accurate and consistent delivery doses? We still have very limited knowledge about the pharmacodynamics of phage therapy. More data, obtained in animal models, are necessary to evaluate the phage therapy efficiency compared, for example, to antibiotics. Another aspect is the safety of phage therapy. How do phages interact with the immune system and to what costs, or benefits? What are the risks, in the course of phage therapy, of transduction of undesirable properties such as virulence or antibiotic resistance genes? How frequent is the development of bacterial host resistance during phage therapy? Understanding these and many other aspects of phage therapy, basic and applied, is the main subject of this Topic.

This Research Topic is dedicated to Prof. Elisabeth Kutter on the occasion of her 80th birthday. Dr. Kutter’s career as a phage scientist has extended nearly 60 years. She has been a pioneer as a woman in science. She started to work with phage at the University of Rochester, New York working with Dr. Wiberg on radioisotopes making excellent progress in the field – progress which was even cited in Luria’s 1969 Nobel Prize talk. Betty first encountered phage therapy during a visit to Georgia in 1990 which was part of a longer stay in the former Soviet Union under a US-USSR research exchange program. Dr. Kutter was one of the first Americans to advocate for phage therapy in the post antibiotic era. Betty started hosting the Evergreen International Phage meetings in Olympia, Washington, from 1975 onward, which helped to develop a strong phage community with participation increasing over the years to 350 at the 23 rd biannual last year. Betty continues to be an active member in the phage community, sharing her experience and working with all of us toward her ultimate goal of making phage therapy available worldwide thus reducing the burden caused by antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.

This edited research monograph brings together contributions from computer scientists, biologists, and engineers who are engaged with the study of evolution and how it may be applied to solve real-world problems. It also serves as a Festschrift dedicated to Erik D. Goodman, the founding director of the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, a pioneering NSF Science and Technology Center headquartered at Michigan State University. The contributing authors are leading experts associated with the center, and they serve in top research and industrial establishments across the US and worldwide. Part I summarizes the history of the BEACON Center, with refreshingly personal chapters that describe Erik's working and leadership style, and others that discuss the development and successes of the center in the context of research funding, projects, and careers. The chapters in Part II deal with the evolution of genomes and evolvability. The contributions in Part III discuss the evolution of behavior and intelligence. Those in Part IV concentrate on the evolution of communities and collective dynamics. The chapters in Part V discuss selected evolutionary computing applications in domains such as arts and science, automated program repair, cybersecurity, mechatronics, and genomic prediction. Part VI deals with evolution in the classroom, using creativity in research, and responsible conduct in research training. The book concludes with a special chapter from Erik Goodman, a short biography that concentrates on his personal positive influences and experiences throughout his long career in academia and industry.

This book offers a complete discussion of product development in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries from discovery, to product launch, through life cycle management. The book is organized for optimal usefulness in the education and training of health care professionals (MD, PharmD, PhD), at universities. The format is a set of figures, tables and lists, along with detailed narrative descriptions, including real-life examples, illustrations, controversies in industry, and references. The editors and authors of the book are industry and research experts in a variety of disciplines.

By integrating knowledge from pharmacology, microbiology, molecular medicine, and engineering, researchers from Europe, the U.S. and Asia cover a broad spectrum of current and potential antimicrobial medications and treatments. The result is a comprehensive survey ranging from small-molecule antibiotics to antimicrobial peptides and their engineered mimetics, from enzymes to nucleic acid therapeutics, from metallic nanoparticles to photo- and sonosensitizers and to phage therapy. In each case, the therapeutic approaches are compared in terms of their mechanisms, likelihood to induce resistance, and their efficiency in a global healthcare context. Unrivaled knowledge for professionals in fundamental research, pharmaceutical development and clinical practice.

Recent Trends and the Future of Antimicrobial Agents provides a significantly expanded overview of the topic with updated research in a broader context on the development of alternative approaches against microbial infections. This part consists of ten chapters. The first five chapters describe naturally derived antimicrobial compounds such as plant-based antimicrobials (PBAs), enzymes based and antibody-based antibacterial therapeutic and secondary metabolites from plant endophytes. The book proceeds to provide details aboutantimicrobials derived from marine microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, and cyanobacteria) is included to inform readers about effective medications against MDR strains. Specific chapters describe the drug development against protozoans, with one chapter focusing on Plasmodium. Chapter contributors have postulated novel approaches for antimalarial therapeutics. The book also includes an explanation of host target identification and drug discovery with the purpose of informing the reader about the implications in viral biology and how they could be exploited for treating viral diseases. The contents cater to the information needs of professionals and learners in academia, industry and health services who aim to learn the most significant experimental and practical approaches towards finding alternatives to existing antimicrobial therapies.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the deadliest threats to global public health. This book focuses on dynamics in the landscape of AMR while informing about the latest technologies and strategies to mitigate it. The menace of AMR in different niches, routes of penetration across various domains, socio-economic impact, and the need for a 'One Health' approach in mitigating AMR has been emphasized. Factors involved in AMR, underlying mechanisms, and pharmacometrics in developing antimicrobials are highlighted. Emphasis is given to emerging technologies that are sustainable, scalable, and applicable to the global community, such as big data analytics, bioactive agents, phage therapy, and nanotechnology. The book also explores current and alternative treatment strategies to combat AMR, emphasizing the use of nanoparticles to target pathogens and as a viable alternative to antibiotics.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global public health threat that needs immediate attention and action from the scientific community. This book compiles and presents the latest and most important aspects of AMR, including the biology involved, its persistence and spread, and novel approaches to tackle this threat. The book first describes the mechanisms and spread of AMR, and then discusses the various approaches and strategies for combating it. Important topics include, microbial pathogenesis, AMR traits and major mechanisms underlying drug-resistance and the emerging strategies and technologies for combating AMR. Emphasis has been given on current developments about natural products including potent phyto-molecules, antimicrobial peptides and endophytes effective against the drug-resistant microbes and target the main drug-resistance determinants (efflux pumps, biofilms, quorum sensing, plasmids, etc.) in these bacterial pathogens. Other exciting topics include applications of nanomaterials in tackling AMR and CRISPR-Cas based precise sequence-specific antimicrobials. This informative book is meant for students and researchers in basic and medical microbiology and biotechnology. It is also useful to public health professionals and industry experts involved in AMR research and related drug-designing.