Researchers from the United States 🇺🇸 and Canada 🇨🇦 developed hydrophilic, membrane-active nanoantibiotics by grafting polymer brushes onto cyclodextrin and phytoglycogen nanoparticles. These materials selectively formed pores in bacterial membranes rich in negative-curvature lipids, killing bacteria with low cytotoxicity through a mechanism that may be less likely to promote antimicrobial resistance. After use, the nanoantibiotics could also be degraded and deactivated by biomass-recycling enzymes found in the environment, offering a potentially safer and more sustainable approach to combating antimicrobial resistance.
Wan Zheng, Hairong Ma, John R. Dutcher, Hongjun Liang; Combating Antimicrobial Resistance with Hydrophilic and Eco-Friendly Membrane-Active Antibiotics Derived from Biological Nanoparticles. ACS Nanosci. Au 19 August 2026; 6 (4): 606–621. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnanoscienceau.6c00025