Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a serious threat to global public health in the 21st century. In the European Union (EU) region, AMR is directly responsible for approximately 133,000 deaths annually and indirectly associated with more than 541,000 deaths. Often termed as a “silent pandemic”, antibiotic resistance requires urgent and coordinated action. To address this, the EU launched the European One Health Action Plan against AMR, uniting integrated approaches across the human-animal-environment interface to drive innovation, research, and the development of effective, sustainable solutions.
In recent years, anti-virulence therapies have emerged as promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics. Unlike traditional antibiotics which aim to kill bacteria or inhibit essential growth processes, anti-virulence therapies reduce virulence or pathogenicity (i.e. the disease-causing ability) of the bacteria, thereby allowing the host immune system to clear the infection more effectively. As these approaches do not directly affect the bacterial viability, they impose less selective pressure, reducing the risk of resistance development. Our mission is to develop and apply innovative drug discovery strategies to fight the bacterial infections by disarming the pathogens, rather than targeting their survival.
To achieve this, NORD-AViD framework brings together eight early career researchers from five Nordic institutions across four Nordic countries each specializing in complementary areas such as omics, biochemistry, deep learning, computational drug design, medicinal chemistry, and both in vitro and in vivo screening. The network focuses on various stages of the drug discovery pipeline starting from the target identification using omics analyses, hit prioritization via deep learning and computational drug design, target-based high-throughput screening, mechanistic and structural characterization, lead optimization, toxicity assessment, and the development of effective delivery technologies.
By integrating these approaches, we aim to uncover novel molecular mechanisms and identify potent anti-virulence agents as effective means of fighting bacterial pathogenicity. Our goal is to bring novel drug candidates that can fight bacterial infections while preserving microbiome health and minimizing the risk of resistance development. Our collaborative effort will serve as a foundation for an innovative antimicrobial pipeline driven by Nordic expertise.