New Genetics Tech Aims to Fight Antibiotic Resistance

UC San Diego researchers develop a CRISPR-based tool to disable drug resistance in bacteria populations

Published on Feb. 6, 2026

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Antibiotic resistance has become a global health crisis, with deadly bacteria evolving new ways to evade drug treatments. Scientists at the University of California San Diego have developed a novel CRISPR-based technology called pPro-MobV that can actively remove antibiotic-resistant elements from bacterial populations, including those found in biofilms. The researchers believe this 'Pro-AG' tool could have significant impacts in healthcare settings, environmental remediation, and microbiome engineering to combat the spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Why it matters

Antibiotic resistance is a growing threat, with estimates of over 10 million deaths per year worldwide by 2050 if new solutions are not found. This new CRISPR-based technology provides a promising approach to actively reverse the spread of antibiotic-resistant genes, rather than just slowing or coping with their proliferation. It could have important applications in healthcare, agriculture, and environmental settings where antibiotic-resistant bacteria thrive.

The details

The pPro-MobV system uses a CRISPR-based gene drive approach similar to technologies being applied to disrupt the spread of harmful traits in insect populations. It introduces a genetic cassette that inactivates antibiotic resistance genes carried on bacterial plasmids. The cassette can then spread through bacterial populations via conjugal transfer, a natural mating process between cells. The researchers demonstrated the system working effectively within bacterial biofilms, which are difficult to treat with conventional antibiotics. The technology can also be delivered by engineered bacteriophage viruses that target resistant bacteria.

  • The initial Pro-AG concept was developed by the research team in 2019.
  • The follow-on pPro-MobV system was described in a recent publication in the Nature journal npj Antimicrobials and Resistance.

The players

Ethan Bier

A faculty member in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences, and lead developer of the pPro-MobV technology.

Justin Meyer

A professor in the Department of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution at UC San Diego, who studies the evolutionary adaptations of bacteria and viruses.

Victor Nizet

A professor at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, who collaborated with Bier's lab on the initial Pro-AG concept.

University of California San Diego

The research institution where the pPro-MobV technology was developed by scientists in the School of Biological Sciences and School of Medicine.

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What they’re saying

“With pPro-MobV we have brought gene-drive thinking from insects to bacteria as a population engineering tool. With this new CRISPR-based technology we can take a few cells and let them go to neutralize AR in a large target population.”

— Ethan Bier, Faculty member, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences (Mirage News)

“The biofilm context for combatting antibiotic resistance is particularly important since this is one of the most challenging forms of bacterial growth to overcome in the clinic or in enclosed environments such as aquafarm ponds and sewage treatment plants. If you could reduce the spread from animals to humans you could have a significant impact on the antibiotic resistance problem since roughly half of it is estimated to come from the environment.”

— Ethan Bier, Faculty member, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences (Mirage News)

“This technology is one of the few ways that I'm aware of that can actively reverse the spread of antibiotic-resistant genes, rather than just slowing or coping with their spread.”

— Justin Meyer, Professor, Department of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution, UC San Diego (Mirage News)

What’s next

The researchers plan to further develop and test the pPro-MobV system to evaluate its potential for real-world applications in healthcare, agriculture, and environmental settings to combat the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.

The takeaway

This new CRISPR-based technology represents a promising advance in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, providing a novel approach to actively reverse the spread of drug resistance genes rather than just managing their proliferation. If successful, it could have significant impacts in reducing the global health burden of antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs'.