Antibiotic resistance chosen as greatest scientific problem

The British public have chosen antibiotic resistance as the most pressing scientific problem facing the world today. Scientists, institutions, organisations and individuals are now being invited to register their interest in competing for the £10 million Longitude Prize. The development of antibiotics has added an average of two decades to our lives according to the World Health Organisation, but the rise of antimicrobial resistance is threatening to make them ineffective. “We are delighted. We have long advocated that the issue of antibiotic resistance was, in the words of Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer ‘a ticking time bomb’ and that urgent action was needed to stem resistance and identify solutions to the near empty antibiotic pipeline,” said Laura Piddock, who was instrumental in pitching the theme to the Longitude Prize Committee. “There has not been a new class of the drugs discovered since the 1980s, and the World Health Organisation recently warned that “many common infections will no longer have a cure and, once again, could kill unabated,” added the Professor of Microbiology at the University of Birmingham, and Director of Antibiotic Action. Competitors from across the globe have up to five years to put their solution forward for assessment by the Longitude committee. Ideas can be submitted from autumn 2014 when the full prize criteria is announced. “I hope that the Longitude Prize will speed up progress towards meeting the challenge of resistance to antibiotics by stimulating invention and innovation – especially ‘out of the box’ thinking,” said Lord Martin Rees, Royal Astronomer and chair of the Longitude Committee. “Over the summer we will firm up the prize rules and set goals that incentivise as many people as possible to participate.” The Longitude Prize commemorated the 300^th anniversary of the Longitude Act in 1714 where the British Government asked people to solve the greatest scientific problem at the time: how to pinpoint a ship’s location at sea by knowing its longitude. Carpenter and watchmaker John Harrison developed the chronometer, which not only led to safer sea travel but opened up global trade. Interest can be registered at www.longitudeprize.org.