The Antibacterial Resistance Laboratory (ARL) at Institut Pasteur Korea is dedicated to the discovery of novel therapeutic agents targeting antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant “superbugs” and drug-resistant tuberculosis poses a critical global health challenge, emphasizing the urgent need for innovative antibacterial and anti-TB interventions.

ARL’s research strategy integrates efforts to advance fundamental understanding of bacterial physiology and resistance mechanisms, develop sophisticated phenotypic and target-based screening platforms, and identify new molecular entities with therapeutic potential. In parallel, ARL leverages its proprietary cell-based phenotypic screening technology—previously instrumental in the discovery of Q203, a first-in-class clinical candidate for drug-resistant TB—to accelerate the identification of novel agents active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Core research activities include:

● Developing host–pathogen cellular infection models to investigate bacterial pathogenicity and to enable screening of novel antibacterial and anti-TB compounds
● Discovering new antibacterial agents using innovative cell-based and target-based high-throughput screening technologies
● Advancing promising therapeutic candidates through in vivo efficacy evaluation to support progression in the drug development pipeline
● Elucidating drug mechanisms of action to identify critical bacterial vulnerabilities amenable to therapeutic targeting
● Conducting community-level surveillance of antibiotic resistance trends to inform public health responses

Together, these integrated research programs aim to strengthen the global antimicrobial development pipeline and contribute to efforts to control antibiotic-resistant infections and tuberculosis.