INCATE

Ancient bacteria found frozen in cave resistant to 10 types of antibiotics 5,000-year-old microorganism could add to the challenge of antibiotic resistance

A 5,000-year-old bacterium (frozen in ice) can resist modern antibiotics.
This changes the narrative. We’re not just causing resistance: we are accelerating an ancient arms race.

Are we reacting to resistance… instead of getting ahead of it?

Read more at The Independent ➡️

The updated PASTEUR Act has been reintroduced in US Congress, proposing subscription-style payments ($75M–$300M/year) to reward high-value antibiotics based on innovation and public health impact.

Could this finally fix the broken antibiotic market

Read more: buff.ly/6RlAnbO

The AMR Conference is almost here!
✔️ Expert speakers
✔️ Startup Pitch finalists
✔️ Poster finalists
The stage is set for two days of bold ideas, innovation, and collaboration in antimicrobial resistance.

Have you secured your spot yet?

📍 Basel | 3–4 February 2026
Come find INCATE at Booth 9

Europe’s life sciences investors step up as biotech financing gap widens - European Biotechnology Magazine Europe produces world-class life sciences research, yet still struggles to finance and scale it. Venture capital in European biotech accounts for just 7 per cent of global funding, while 66 of the 67…

Is Europe’s biotech funding engine running out of fuel?

With biotech financing gaps widening, investors are stepping up. But what does that really mean for innovation, startups, and the future of health tech across the continent?

A must-read article with fresh insights and data ➡️

Innovating for Impact: Tackling Chronic Lung Infections in Cystic Fibrosis
Join the next @gardp.bsky.social REVIVE webinar on addressing chronic respiratory infections in CF.

🗓️ 19 Feb 2026 | 15:30–17:00 CET
📍 Online

Register ➡️ register.gotowebinar.com/register/800...

#CysticFibrosis #AMR

Introducing new Stage I ventures - INCATE The INCATE Selection Committee has selected five promising ventures to [...]

Great news: the INCATE Selection Committee has awarded five new Stage I!

Congratulations and a warm welcome to:

- Inicure AB
- Obulytix
- The Wright Lab (McMaster University)
- Uniklinik Köln
- Veirulence Ltd

Learn more about them here ➡️ www.incate.net/introducing-...

Today we celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Women have shaped breakthroughs from microbiology to antibiotics, saving millions of lives worldwide.

At INCATE, equity isn’t optional — it’s foundational.

When women and girls succeed in science, society succeeds.

🎉 AMR Conference 2026 Poster Competition finalists are in!
160+ submissions from around the world, 77 posters selected. 🏆

Winners announced March 4, 12:30pm, Room Sydney — come support!

Abstracts: amr-conference.com/program/post...

Thanks to Basilea Pharmaceutica for sponsoring this event!

Microbial Primer: Artificial intelligence for microbiologists Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are reshaping microbiology, enabling rapid antibiotic discovery, resistance prediction and clinical diagnostics. For microbiologists, the goal is...

What if AI is already reshaping microbiology: are you ready?

Read about how ML is being used now to discover antibiotics, predict resistance, and analyze microbiomes — plus where its limits really are.

Read: www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
César de la Fuente | Hanqun Cao

High-throughput triazole-based combinatorial click chemistry for the synthesis and identification of functional metal complexes - Nature Communications Methods for the systematic synthesis and evaluation of large numbers of transition metal complexes at a time are still limited. Here, the authors report a high-throughput method to create and test hun...

Can metal-based antibiotics and robotic chemistry beat AMR?

Researchers are using automation to design metal-based compounds that attack bacteria in new ways. Could this succeed where current antibiotics fail — and scale safely?

Paper ➡️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#AMR #DrugDiscovery #Biotech

Yesterday was World Cancer Day. Cancer care depends on more than awareness — it relies on effective prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
AMR puts cancer patients at serious risk.

Fighting AMR is part of fighting cancer.
#WorldCancerDay #AMR

INCATE appoints first Chief Executive Officer to shape its future vision - INCATE February 3, 2026 — INCATE (INCubator for Antibacterial Therapies in [...]

A defining milestone for INCATE 🎉

We’re excited to welcome Holger Zimmermann as INCATE’s first-ever CEO. With deep experience in biotech leadership and anti-infectives R&D, Holger will help guide INCATE into its next phase of growth and impact.

Read more ➡️ www.incate.net/incate-ceo/

The Long Road to the Trenches Three decades of learning what actually kills biotech companies (and what saves them)

Most biotech startups fail long before the data does.
In “The Long Road to the Trenches,” Mark Beards shares the lessons founders usually learn too late.

Read here ➡️ www.beardsonbiotech.com/p/the-long-r...

World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day reminds us that “neglected” doesn’t mean small. Over a billion people are affected worldwide — and NTDs are closely linked to AMR.

Innovation, collaboration, and bold action are more urgent than ever. Let’s turn awareness into impact.

#WorldNTDDay #AMR

The Ancient Antibiotics Hidden Within Woolly Mammoth Biology Discover how ancient DNA and AI combine to uncover powerful new antibiotics, offering hope in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

What if the next antibiotics come from AI, the human proteome, or even extinct species?

César de la Fuente on how AI is uncovering hidden antimicrobials—from human peptides to molecules resurrected from Neanderthals and mammoths.

Read the interview ➡️ www.technologynetworks.com/drug-discove...

💥 Our first 2026 newsletter is out! 💥
- New partnerships
- Meet the finalists to rock the stage Startup Pitch event in Basel in March
- ... and more!

Read here ➡ buff.ly/oSjaW88

Haven't you subscribed yet?
Don't fall behind, subscribe here ➡

buff.ly/Zmd5lPS

When conventional strategies fall short, new thinking is essential. How far have non-traditional approaches to AMR really come?

📍 INCATE session at the AMR Conference
🗓 March 3 | 3pm CET

Real progress. Real challenges. What’s next.

Register ➡️ amr-conference.com/registration/

Two-year persistence of MERS-CoV-specific antibody and T cell responses after MVA-MERS-S vaccination in healthy adults Nature Communications - This study assessed the durability of immunity in humans after vaccination with an MVA-based MERS vaccine. The data show that antibodies and T cells persist for at least two...

A MERS vaccine candidate triggers a stable, functional immune response lasting up to two years after a booster. With MERS on the @who.int priority disease list, these long-term data mark a key step for vaccine development and pandemic preparedness.
Read it here ➡️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Indeed!

New Global Consortium Aims to Transform Antibiotic Discovery to Counter the Growing AMR Crisis Philanthropic partners invest $60M to support collaborative research to accelerate the discovery of next-generation antibiotics

A win for antibiotic discovery—and for all of us.

The Gates Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Wellcome are committing $60M to accelerate next-generation antibiotics and combat AMR.

18 projects. 17 countries. One mission.

Read here➡️ www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-...

The Finalists for the Startup Pitch Event 2026 are in! - INCATE Every year, selecting the finalists for the Startup Pitch Event [...]

Startup Pitch Event finalists are here!
See them live at the 10th AMR Conference in Basel on March 3, 6pm CET, moderated by Guillermo Tramontin & sponsored by VOSSIUS.

Meet the finalists: www.incate.net/finalists-su...

#AMRConference #StartupPitch

More good news in 2026!
INCATE is proud to partner with the Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (JPMA) to strengthen the Japan–Europe AMR ecosystem and accelerate innovation in antimicrobial prevention, therapies, and tools.
👉 www.incate.net/jpma-and-inc...

#AMR #AntimicrobialResistance

From Berlin to Valencia!

Targeting Phage Therapy has reached a turning point. Berlin showed proof of concept: Valencia is about implementation.

🗓 June 11–12, 2026
📍 Valencia, Spain

Call for Abstracts:
• Oral: May 9, 2026
• Posters: May 13, 2026

Info & registration ➡️ phagetherapy-site.com

INCATE will be attending ACC2026 — the annual open-access, online Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Conference.

📅 4–5 February, 2026
📍 Free and fully online

We look forward to connecting with colleagues and partners across the AMR ecosystem.

Register here ➡️ bsac.eventsair.com/antimicrobia...

An overview of global public and philanthropic investments into antibacterial therapeutics (2017–23) Antibacterial research and development (R&D) increasingly relies on public and philanthropic investments over private investments and on academia and small businesses over large pharmaceutical compani...

Antibacterial medicines save lives — but funding is falling short.
A new @thelancet.com paper shows public and philanthropic investment in antibacterial R&D has dropped 18% since 2020, with funding concentrated among few players and early research declining.
➡️ www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Microgravity reshapes bacteriophage–host coevolution aboard the International Space Station Phage-host interactions have a role shaping microbial ecosystems, but their behavior in microgravity remains largely unexplored. In this study, experiments aboard the ISS reveal distinct evolutionary ...

What happens when evolution leaves Earth?
A new study from the International Space Station shows that bacteria and the viruses that infect them evolve differently in microgravity.

Space isn’t just exploration. It’s a biology lab.

Read paper ➡️ journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Basilea joins INCATE to support antifungal innovation - INCATE January 13, 2026 — INCATE (INCubator for Antibacterial Therapies in [...]

Starting 2026 with great news!
We are thrilled to welcome Basilea Pharmaceutica as a new industry partner. This collaboration not only brings strong antibacterial expertise but also expands our scope to antifungals.

Read here ➡️ www.incate.net/basilea-join...

Late last year, Bugworks Research Inc. reported in Communications Biology the first crystal structure of Gram-negative topoisomerase IV, highlighting how BWC0977’s dual-target activity combats MDR pathogens and supports its potential against AMR.

Read here ➡️ www.nature.com/articles/s42...

#AMR

📢 Good news for 2026: CARB-X has launched the Novel Chemistry for AMR Challenge, calling for bold chemistry approaches against validated AMR targets to spark new antibiotic leads. Applications open April 2026 (with a second call in Q4).

Learn more ➡️ carb-x.org/carb-x-news/...

Basilea Pharmaceutica and Prokaryotics, Inc. announced a collaboration to develop a first-in-class, broad-spectrum antifungal for severe invasive infections, including those caused by Candida, Aspergillus, and rare molds.

Read here ➡️ www.basilea.com/news#news_1576

#Antifungals #AntiInfectives