Understanding antimicrobial resistance (AMR) requires not only drug discovery but also the creation of chemical tools to study the underlying biology. Our group develops probes and molecular tools to investigate efflux mechanisms, membrane permeability, and antibiotic–target interactions in clinically relevant bacteria and fungi. By combining medicinal chemistry, microbiology, and structural biology, we design small-molecule probes that mimic drug behaviour but carry reporter functions, enabling us to track drug uptake, efflux, or binding in live cells.
These tools are also applied to study resistance pathways in high-priority pathogens, helping us uncover how resistance emerges and how it might be overcome. This research provides valuable insights that feed back into our therapeutic discovery programmes, including antibiotic, antifungal, and antifolate projects. By building a toolbox of innovative chemical biology approaches, we aim to accelerate resistance research globally and provide the community with resources to understand and ultimately overcome AMR.