About the Excessive Use of Antibiotics and New Approaches in Treating Infections, with Researcher Alina Maria Holban, Lecturer at the Faculty of Biology of UB

Assoc. prof. Alina Maria Holban, PhD, teaching staff at the Faculty of Biology of the University of Bucharest, invites us, in a new episode of the UB Science Dose series, to an extremely necessary discussion about the risks of excessive use of antibiotics and about modern approaches in treating microbial infections.

One of the main problems facing society at the moment is the increased resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics. Although it was thought that with the discovery of antibiotics, death rates from infections would drop drastically, microorganisms continue to adapt to any stimulus they encounter in the environment and increase their rates of resistance. As a result, the researchers concluded, if these resistance rates continue to rise, by 2050 there will be no antibiotics effective in treating infections.

In this context, important teams of researchers, doctors and engineers are looking for solutions to counter infections and eliminate the overuse of antibiotics.

Episode number 12 of the UB Dose of Science series can be accessed here.

Showing that microorganisms are the most adaptable and numerous life forms on the planet, researcher Alina Maria Holban emphasizes from the beginning the extremely beneficial role of most microorganisms and explains that, among other things, they make up the normal microbiota of humans. Thus, she points out, beneficial microorganisms participate in processes without which harmonious growth and development, as well as the acquisition of a mandatory immunity for life, would be impossible. Next, the guest explains that only a small proportion of microorganisms can have harmful effects, installing infections in humans, animals and plants. Moreover, of these potentially pathogenic life forms, very few are strictly pathogenic, inducing infection in any context. Most install infections only in particular cases, caused by a stressful situation from a physical or neuropsychological point of view, such as: exposure to unfavorable conditions, sudden changes in temperature, an inadequate diet, an insufficient amount of sleep, a surgical intervention, a treatment with certain medicines etc.

Currently, among the most resistant gram-positive bacteria, is the well-known methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, which primarily causes upper respiratory tract infections, with high rates of mortality and morbidity, especially among children. Among gram-negative bacteria, the microorganisms most resistant to antibiotics are escherichia coli, klebsiella pneumoniae and pseudomonas aeruginosa, which have a particular impact in the hospital milieu. At the same time, shows the guest of the UB Dose of Science, in addition to bacteria, the rates of resistance to yeasts or yeasts, which can install equally severe infections, such as those caused by candida albicans or candida auris, have greatly increased. As a result of the increased resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics, researchers are investigating a number of strategies to combat infections and the increasing use of antibiotics. Those methods that do not alter the growth or development of microorganisms, but rather their virulence, are brought into discussion.

As researcher Alina Maria Holban explains, current antimicrobial strategies target three categories of factors: biological, chemical and physical. Among the biological ones, the presentation mentions bacteriophages or viruses that parasitize bacteria but cannot parasitize higher organisms and beneficial bacteria present in the normal microbiota of individuals. Another biological approach is to use bacteria that recognize and manipulate other bacteria, such as probiotics.Among the chemical factors, the presentation mentions the use of antibiotics with a reassigned role, such as substances that are used in parasitosis and that could also be effective against bacteria. Also in this area, various natural factors are analyzed, such as substances extracted from plants and volatile oils with a significant antimicrobial effect.

At the same time, the guest refers to the use of nanotechnology, nanomaterials, which, among other things, can bring certain substances to the site of infection without altering the beneficial microorganisms. Also in this direction, strategies aimed at the use of molecules originating from microorganisms that can block the installation of infections are also being studied.Among the antimicrobial approaches based on physical factors, researcher Alina Maria Holban mentions, among others, the very effective treatments with lasers and cold plasmas or at room temperature and atmospheric pressure.

More on “good” and “bad” microorganisms in the environment, the harmful effects of overuse of antibiotics, and solutions that use biological, chemical and physical factors to treat microbial infections are available in episode 12 of the UB Dose of Science, with researcher Alina Maria Holban as its guest. Alina Maria Holban is a doctor and researcher at the Department of Botany and Microbiology of the Faculty of Biology of the University of Bucharest. She was a scholarship researcher at the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest. Her main interests are microorganisms and strategies using biological, chemical and physical agents to treat microbial infections.More details on the research and studies published by Alina Maria Holban are available here.

Launched in October 2021, the UB Dose of Science is a project that proposes a focused and dynamic way to communicate scientific information in an attractive, lively and expressive format, establishing a platform for dialogue with the public interested in science.Initiated within the Science Communication Program, launched by the University of Bucharest in 2018, the UB Dose of Science is aimed at the public and encourages the connection between the academic and non-academic milieus, based on current and interesting topics.The guests of this series, intended to represent a synthetic and engaging way of communicating the various fields of science, are mainly professors and researchers from the academic community of the University of Bucharest.

The materials in the UB Dose of Science include short and dynamic presentations of topics relevant to contemporary society: pollution, climate change, education, digitalization, significant research contributions and others. Thus, in addition to the fundamental dimension of communicating scientifically validated information, the UB Dose of Science also proposes an important component of social responsibility, reconfirming the role and mission of the University of Bucharest within society and contributing to the awareness of acute problems of today’s world and to the promotion of possible solutions to these problems.