Light-Activated Nanoparticles Prove Effective Against Antibiotic-Resistant ‘Superbugs’

January 20, 2016

(Nanotechnology Now) – Antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as Salmonella, E. Coli and Staphylococcus infect some 2 million people and kill at least 23,000 people in the United States each year. Efforts to thwart these so-called “superbugs” have consistently fallen short due to the bacteria’s ability to rapidly adapt and develop immunity to common antibiotics such as penicillin. New research from CU-Boulder, however, suggests that the solution to this big global problem might be to think small–very small.