PAACT

Precision Access to Antibiotic Compounds and Targets

01/01/2026 to 31/01/2029

The PAACT project works as a sustainable and high-impact antibiotic discovery engine, dedicated to the screening, identification, and profiling of novel antibacterial hit and lead compounds. By filling the early-stage DZIF antibiotic pipeline, PAACT ensures a steady flow of promising candidates for further development. The project brings together expertise and cutting-edge technologies from multiple DZIF sites (Bonn-Cologne, Braunscheig-Saarbrücken, Tübingen, and Jena) and spans across the DZIF Therapeutic Units “Novel Antibiotics” and “Hospital-acquired Infections” to foster a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach. One objective of PAACT is to develop and implement innovative discovery technologies. PAACT PIs integrate and constantly advance creative technologies to accelerate the overall antibiotic discovery process, including computational and metagenomic prediction tools, novel microbial sources, pathway activation methods, high-throughput screening, advanced deconvolution technologies, and versatile mode of action analyses. The second objective of PAACT is the identification, provision in sufficient amounts, and profiling of new or underexplored antibacterial agents to assess their potential as starting points for antibiotic drug development. PAACT PIs aim at a high degree of innovation (new/underexplored structural class, mode of action not in clinical use, lack of cross resistance to antibiotics in clinical use).