Swab and Send

Join us in the search for new antibiotics by becoming a donor today – donate!

The secret to saving millions of lives could be behind your sofa, down the back of your fridge, on the bottom of your shoe or even in your pocket… Join us today and help us hunt for the next antibiotic.  

Antibiotics are compounds which can stop the growth of, or kill, bacteria that cause disease of humans, animals and plants. They are the cornerstone of modern medicine and also, through agricultural use, secure global food production systems.

However, the bacteria, which are the targets of antibiotics, are evolving resistance at an unprecedented rate and are increasingly becoming less and less effective. This is known as antimicrobial resistance or AMR, and it is one of the biggest threats to public health globally.

It is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 and contributed to another 4.95 million deaths.*  

Right now, we need more research into the rising levels of resistance, and we urgently need to ensure equitable access to new and existing vaccines, diagnostics, and medicines. We also need new antibiotics. Many people don’t realise that bacteria themselves often produce their own antibiotics to compete in their environment, indeed this is what Alexander Fleming saw on an agar plate when he discovered penicillin in 1928.

*DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02724-0

Dr Roberts and his brilliant team of researchers are leading the way to finding new antibiotics, and they need your help!

The team is testing tens of thousands of different types of bacteria to see which ones are producing new antibiotics, but with millions of bacteria out there, they need your support to find them.

By donating today, you’ll be helping Dr Roberts and his team work with communities to distribute, collect, and analyse “swabs” that are vital to finding new antibiotics. These swabs, taken by the public, might contain microbes that live in the back of a fridge, gather on a phone, or linger on a light switch. If you choose to give £30 or more, we’ll send you your very own pack of swabs so you can help the search by swabbing and sending them back to be analysed.

If you choose to give £30 or more, we’ll send you your very own pack of swabs so you can help the search by swabing and sending them back to be analysed… Who knows, the answer to a new antibiotic could literally be on your doorstep.

When the swab you have sent us arrives in the laboratory, we test them for any bacteria or fungi that are producing potential antibiotics. 

For us to do this, we need to culture the bacteria and fungi present on your swab using Petri dishes containing sterile nutrient agar jelly. We streak the swab over the surface of the nutrient agar jelly (a fancy way of saying we drag the swab over the surface of the agar) and culture any bacteria or fungi, that is present on your swab, for a few days.

Once we have good growth of bacteria and fungi we choose individual colonies of all the different types of bacteria and fungi that have grown from your swab, and culture these in a liquid broth (so in the absence of agar jelly).

Different types of bacteria and fungi can look very different from each other when grown in the lab, for example they can have different colours due to the production of certain pigments, produce colonies of different shapes and morphologies, and because of this we make sure to test a good diversity of bacteria and fungi from your swab!

All this work is done in a sterile manner, to avoid contamination from bacteria and fungi in the air and on our skin. After a couple of days growing to high numbers in the liquid broth, we test your bacteria and fungi against other bacteria and yeast which we know are resistant to antibiotics.  Any of your organisms that can kill these, are stored by Adam for his research into new antibiotics.