103266An imaging/genomic platform for the analysis of antibiotic action and resistanceClosedCentresInnovate UKWe will establish a novel high-throughput screening platform that will be able to observe small communities of bacteria as they grow in the presence of antibiotics or new compounds with potential antibiotic activity. This will enable us to observe how ARMs are killed or resist the action of antibiotics (old or new) in real time. We will also be able to do this at scale. We will use common bacteria that are evolving to become highly resistant to antibiotics and present clinical challenges as well as members of the helpful microbial communities found on our bodies. We will test exactly how such bacteria manage antibiotics in real time and learn the details of (a) how they respond to them and (b) how they resist their action. The linking of high quality imaging to the genomic response to antibiotics treatment represents a new integrated approach. We will be able to study resistance to existing antibiotics but importantly we will be able to screen new molecules with potential antibiotic activity and to predict if they can become resistant to these compounds. The platform will be housed in a safe high containment area but will be fully available to outside groups in academia or industry who have compounds that they might want to test in great depth.