Discuva Platform
Our proprietary technology is generating new antibiotic programs


Our proprietary Discuva Platform encompasses three core areas, which allow us to expand upon our leadership position in the research and development of new mechanism antibiotics:
- Identify novel targets.
- Elucidate mechanisms of action.
- Optimise against bacterial resistance.
To perform these core areas, our scientists have created libraries of mutant bacteria, which enable exquisite control over bacterial gene expression. This allows our scientists, with the help of next-generation sequencing, to identify which genes are essential for a bacterium’s survival. We can then design antibiotics to target the product of these genes. Further, genetic control of the mutant bacteria can help to identify a compound’s mechanism of action and to ensure compounds are selected to which the bacteria are less likely to develop resistance. In proof of concept studies, our scientists profiled established, marketed and clinical phase antibiotics with known mechanisms of action and where bacteria are known to have certain resistance mechanisms. The data the Discuva Platform generated matched published data in all cases.
Latest Research Publications
Discuva Platform / 23 Dec 2020
High-density transposon libraries utilising outward-oriented promoters identify mechanisms of action and resistance to antimicrobials
C. Coward FEMS Microbiology Letters, Volume 367, Issue 22. 2020
Discuva Platform / 11 Jun 2018
High Density Transposon Mutant Profiling to Enable Discovery and Development of Novel Antimicrobials
Clive Mason ASM Microbe 2018