What if Belgian soils could save lives?
Support the humus project and together we can accelerate the search for new antibiotics
Antibiotic resistance, a silent pandemic
The growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics has become one of the most pressing global health challenges. In the next two decades, bacterial infections could become more deadly than cancer, causing more than 10 million deaths per year.
Our antimicrobial arsenal is becoming less and less effective, and very few innovative antibiotics have been brought to market in recent years. These two factors are limiting our ability to counter the emergence of multi-resistant bacteria.
Faced with this crisis, which has been described as a silent pandemic, there is an urgent need to develop new approaches.
The earth at the service of health
In the soil, billions of microbes use “weapons” to “wage war” on each other in order to guarantee their access to nutrients. These “weapons” are chemical molecules secreted naturally by soil microbes, which have various interesting properties.
In the laboratory, we are interested in the antibiotic potential of these molecules with the aim of harnessing them for our benefit in human medicine: to combat multi-resistant bacteria.
Let us work together to meet this challenge by accelerating innovative research involving the active participation of citizens.
The largest Belgian citizen mobilisation for the search for new antibiotics
Under the leadership of Professor Jean-François Collet, Chloé Petre and a team of three researchers want to work with citizens to accelerate the search for new antibiotic molecules by exploring the microbial biodiversity of Belgian soils.
The aim is to collect 10,000 soil samples, thanks to the voluntary commitment of citizens, in order to co-construct a unique resource: the HUMUS4SCIENCE library, which will bring together numerous molecules from a wide variety of micro-organisms.
The humus project also aims to raise awareness among the general public, aged 7 to 99, about the issue of antibiotic resistance and the hopes that scientific research brings.
If citizens are part of the solution, the humus project is one piece of the puzzle. It is a step in the right direction: there is still a long way to go, but every contribution counts.
Make a difference and support this ambitious project
Your donation will pave the way for the development of innovative therapeutic solutions to combat antibiotic resistance.
o With €60, you provide 20 collection kits to volunteer citizens
o With €150, you co-finance the Humus app to geolocate samples and connect participating citizens
o With €2,500, you enable research into new bioactive molecules for 1 month