I believed we would face an antibiotics apocalypse, until now
Does that article have a second page? I read ten paragraphs of preamble followed by two paragraphs of topic.<p>Anyway, it is about using a class of bacteriocidal polypeptides, called bacteriocins, to treat bacterial infections in humans.<p>Because we have the technology to create custom polypeptide sequences, the allure is that we could design proteinaceous binding domains that are specific for some nasty pathogen.  Through combinatorial chemical methods, you can generate millions of different of different peptides, and then select for the one that binds your bacterial target.   Most current antibiotics are small molecules, and although you can screen chemical libraries for some antimicrobial property, you can't make millions or billions of derivatives of some candidate small molecule like you can with a peptide polymer.  This could be a breakthrough method for the rapid development of antimicrobial agents.<p>However, there's a downside, and that is that large molecules have a more difficult time travelling through the body, specifically through tissues that have tight junctions between cells.  It seems like these bacteriocins would have to be introduced intravenously (or maybe through the respiratory system, like ricin can be) as most peptides are hydrolyzed in the stomach.  Even then, peptides don't easily diffuse through the blood brain barrier.  I suppose they could be applied topically to treat MRSA.