What's this? This is an unbiased just-the-facts news timeline ('newsline') about Sydney University, created by Newslines contributors. Become a contributor

Sydney University

Sydney University1 post
Latest News view > Click for Biography view
22 Oct, 2016

Tasmanian Devil milk kills MRSA

Scientific Discovery0 Comments

Researchers at Sydney University find that breastmilk from tasmanian devils can be used to treat MRSA and other superbugs. The marsupial’s breastmilk is found to contain bacteria-fighting peptides. They have scanned the devil’s genetic code to find and recreate the infection-fighting compounds, called cathelicidins. Experts believe devils evolved this cocktail to help their young grow stronger. One of the synthetic peptides – Saha-CATH5 – appeared to be particularly effective at killing the superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA.