€3.3M Gr‑ADI grant supports C4D’s Nature‑Inspired Discovery of Anti‑Klebsiella Drugs
An international team composed exclusively of C4D members has been awarded prestigious funding from the Gram‑Negative Antibiotic Discovery Innovator (Gr‑ADI) initiative. The project, Nature‑Inspired Discovery of Novel Anti‑Klebsiella Drugs, is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation in close association with the Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust, with a total grant value of €3.3 million.
Gr‑ADI is a major philanthropic initiative aimed at addressing the growing global health crisis caused by antibiotic‑resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, a World Health Organization (WHO) priority pathogen and a leading cause of life‑threatening infections worldwide. Existing treatment options are increasingly ineffective, highlighting the urgent need for antibiotics with new mechanisms of action.
This C4D‑led project will pursue a nature‑inspired and ecology‑driven discovery strategy to unlock untapped chemical diversity from natural ecosystems. By combining culture‑independent compound sourcing, ecology‑inspired elicitation approaches, and high‑throughput microfluidics, the consortium will access biosynthetic potential that remains invisible to conventional screening methods. Microbiomes from marine, plant‑associated, and human‑associated environments will be systematically explored to identify novel biosynthetic pathways and natural products with potent activity against Klebsiella. Compounds will be prioritised based on chemical novelty, spectrum of bioactivity, level of expression and initial pharmaceutical evaluation. The most promising candidates will undergo structural elucidation and detailed profiling against multidrug‑resistant Klebsiella strains.
Beyond delivering new molecules, the project aims to uncover previously unknown mechanisms of action and to better understand the ecological triggers that drive antibiotic production in nature. Through this ambitious, interdisciplinary approach, they expect to deliver new antibiotic scaffolds and discovery strategies.
This grant highlights the strength of C4D’s collaborative, interdisciplinary model, bringing together ecology, microbiology, chemistry, and cutting‑edge technologies to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The project reinforces C4D’s commitment to delivering innovative solutions against the most urgent infectious disease threats.
Project Partners:
Joleen Masschelein, VIB, Leuven, Belgium (Coordinator)
Paul Jensen, University of California San Diego (UCSD), USA
Lone Gram, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Copenhagen, Denmark
Gilles van Wezel, Leiden University, Netherlands
Jos Raaijmakers, NIOO‑KNAW, Wageningen, Netherlands
Bart Keijser, TNO, Leiden, Netherlands
Olga Genilloud, Fundación MEDINA, Granada, Spain
Nigel Mouncey, Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, USA
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