"Running to stand still": Conclusions of the Workshop on Drug and Pesticide Resistance

The workshop, called "Running to stand still" in reference to the Red Queen's logic in Alice in Wonderland, took place from January 18 to 20 in the Universidad de Barcelona, and was organized by Silvie Huijben, from ISGlobal and Paul Neve, from Rothamsted Research, with funding from the  Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), United Kingdom.

One of the major threats for food security and healthcare is the emergence and spread of resistance to chemotherapy (antimicrobials, pesticides, anticancer treatment) as a result of evolutionary forces. The goal of the workshop was to address the evolution of resistance with an interdisciplinary approach, by bringing together 27 researchers  that work in the evolution of antibiotic, antihelminthic, antimalarial, anticancer, fungicide, insecticide and herbicide resistance from across the globe.    

Some of the most relevant questions that were extensively discussed during the event were:  How can we optimize treatment strategies with the available drugs in order to slow the spread of drug resistance? What is the optimal drug dose to slow the spread of resistance?  Why are strategies like drug rotation and combinations practiced in agriculture and less so for public health? What can we learn from combinations that appear to be evolution-proof, such as penicillin and syphilis? How can we exploit fitness costs to set evolutionary traps that mitigate the evolution of resistance?   

During the meeting, it became clear that the different fields are struggling with similar issues and that much can be gained from joining forces.   "The workshop led to many exciting ideas for future research. Resistance is a problem of 21st century medicine that will always be with us, however, by thinking smart, thinking together and employing treatment strategies that have a foundation in evolutionary biology, we may be able to be one step ahead of the pathogens", says Dr. Huijben. This workshop was a first step towards this goal.