Frontiers of Antibiotic Research

Frontiers of Antibiotic Research - Hamao Umezawa

"Proceedings of the Fourth Takeda Science Foundation Symposium on Bioscience, held November 25-27, 1986" Incluye bibliografía e índice.

About this Research Topic

Since the first introduction of antibiotics into clinical practice, microbial drug resistance has emerged as a major obstacle in the treatment of infections. Recently, the combination of emergence of a complex variety of multidrug resistant strains and the dearth of newly discovered molecules to effectively target and eliminate these strains, has made antibiotic resistance one of the major public health problems of this century. 

Different strategies can be adopted to contain the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance, including (i) antimicrobial stewardship, (ii) infection control, and (iii) tighter control over the use of antibiotics in agriculture and breeding. However, a better understanding of the dynamics that lead to the evolution of antibiotic resistance is essential for the development of more efficient strategies to combat this phenomenon. The recent developments in genomics have greatly contributed to our increased knowledge of the mechanisms of microbial resistance, and of the processes by which they emerge, develop and spread. Different approaches and expertise can be used to accelerate advances in this area, ranging from clinical studies on the evolution of resistance in vivo, to theoretical modeling and the study of evolution in the laboratory.

Hamao Umezawa (梅沢 浜夫 Umezawa Hamao, October 1, 1914 - December 25, 1986) was a Japanese scientist who discovered several antimicrobial agents and enzyme inhibitors.

After graduating from the Musashi Junior and Senior High School, Umezawa completed his medical degree at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine in 1937. After serving in Japanese army during World War II Umezawa did work on tuberculosis which led to his discovery, in 1956, of antibiotic kanamycin. By this stage Umezawa was heading the Institute of Microbial Chemistry in Tokyo where his main focus was antimicrobial agents manufactured through fermentation processes. Also in the mid-1950s Umezawa discovered kasugamycin, a compound useful in combating rice molds. In the early 1960s he discovered the cancer drug bleomycin.

The Hamao Umezawa Memorial Museum in Setagaya, Tokyo was named in his honour.