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A major new partnership between GSK and the Fleming Initiative will support pioneering research at Imperial to accelerate the discovery of treatments for antimicrobial resistance.

Backed by £45 million in funding, the partnership has launched six new that combine academic expertise, advanced technologies and artificial intelligence to address one of the most urgent global health threats. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is responsible for millions of deaths worldwide each year and is projected to rise significantly over the coming decades.

Tate group researchers will play leading roles in two of the new programmes. One project will focus on overcoming the protective barriers of Gram-negative bacteria, which make many infections difficult to treat. By combining high-throughput mass spectrometry with machine learning, the team aims to identify the chemical features that allow antibiotic molecules to enter bacterial cells more effectively.

A second programme will apply AI-driven approaches to discover new treatments for fungal infections, beginning with Aspergillus, a major cause of life-threatening disease in vulnerable patients. The research will seek to identify previously unexplored weaknesses in fungal pathogens that could be targeted by future medicines.

The programmes will bring together chemists, microbiologists, clinicians and data scientists across Imperial, GSK and partner organisations, creating new multidisciplinary roles and strengthening the UK’s capacity in antimicrobial research.