Antibiotic resistance is rapidly becoming one of the biggest public health threats faced by humanity. Drugs available for treatment are increasingly ineffective, resulting in a resurgence of previously minor infections that are now serious or even fatal “superbugs”. Claire Gorrie proposes a way to way to identify bacteria quickly for those that are most vulnerable to improve health outcomes and even prevent infections from arising altogether. urrently in the final stages of a PhD at the University of Melbourne, Claire has long been fascinated by the smaller living organisms on our planet; bacteria. These tiny microbes influence many aspects of our lives. They live in the environment around us, as well as on us and inside us. Some never cause health problems or disease, some always do, and some seem to switch between these two states. Some have even evolved to be resistant – untreatable – by all available antibiotics - “superbugs”. Claire’s current work focuses on tracking the transmission and evolution of certain antibiotic-resistant bacteria to better understand how they work and survive. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

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