Updated On: 05 February, 2026 09:08 AM IST | Sydney | Agencies
Australian scientists have developed a novel strategy to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria by designing antibodies that target a sugar found only on bacterial cells. In laboratory tests, the antibody successfully cleared a normally fatal bacterial infection in mice by binding to pseudaminic acid and triggering the immune system to destroy

Immune cells (cell boundaries in red and nuclei in blue) engulfing the bacteria seen in green. PIC COURTESY/Peter Doherty Institute
Australian scientists have created a promising new approach for fighting deadly bacteria that no longer respond to antibiotics.
The team designed antibodies that latch onto a sugar found only on bacterial cells, a discovery that could support a new class of immunotherapies.