Several University of Illinois researchers have developed a more cost-effective way to produce an antibiotic. Fosfomycin is an FDA approved antibiotic that until now has only been able to be produced in small quantities. Professor Huimin Zhao says fosfomycin is important because it can be used to treat infections that have become resistant to other antibiotics.

“I think it’s really the tip of an iceberg of what we’re trying to achieve. Our goal is really to try to discover more new antibiotics which can be used to treat bacteria infections which have become more and more problematic.”

An article on the research by Zhao and U of I chemistry professor Wilfred van der Donk appeared in this week’s issue of Chemistry and Biology.