Australian clinical scientist honoured in Copenhagen

The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) has announced University of Queensland (UQ) Professor Jason Roberts as one of three winners of its 2015 Young Investigator Awards.

The Young Investigator Awards, presented this year in Copenhagen, acknowledge excellence in research and aim to stimulate further high-quality research. Professor Roberts was recognised by the prestigious awards program due to his research into preventative treatments for dangerous multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Professor Roberts believes that improving treatment of infections, including reducing the emergence of resistance, is work that urgently needs to be undertaken for currently available antibiotics as the time until new antibiotics become available may be lengthy. He says a better understanding of dose-exposure and exposure-effect relationships for antibiotics, using preclinical and clinical pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) research, presents an excellent approach to addressing these problems.

“The prize is really a very pleasant acknowledgement of all the great work being done by my colleagues across the School of Medicine, UQCCR [UQ Centre for Clinical Research] and the School of Pharmacy,” Professor Roberts said.

“This award promotes our research efforts to a wider audience and recognises the hard work and outstanding achievements we have been able to make in improving outcomes around the world for intensive-care-unit patients with severe infections.”

Professor Roberts said his research is part of a growing body of work across UQ that aims to combat the rising global threat superbugs pose to public health. “Antibiotic dosing is a key component of this,” he said, “and we aim to develop antibiotic doses that will stop the emergence of superbugs.”

Professor Roberts’ fellow awards recipients were:

• Carolina Garcia-Vidal, from Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain, whose research focuses on respiratory tract infection - especially within the immunocompromised host.
• Roy Sleator, from Cork, Ireland, who focuses on improved diagnostic approaches and therapeutic strategies for the identification and control of pathogens.