Scientists invent 'shape-shifting' antibiotic to fight deadly superbugs

illustration of Enterococci bacteria depicted in bright pink against a black background — Scientists invented a new antibiotic that can shape-shift and kill drug-resistant bacteria in animal experiments. Here we see an illustration of *Enterococci* bacteria.

To make the new antibiotic, the researchers used "click chemistry" — highly efficient chemical reactions that can quickly and reliably "click" different chemical building blocks together, like the two halves of a seat-belt buckle. The study's senior author, John Moses, a professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in New York, studied these ultrafast reactions under the guidance of K. Barry Sharpless, who earned one of his two Nobel Prizes for his role in the development of click chemistry.

The team's new antibiotic essentially clicks together an existing antibiotic called vancomycin with a molecule called bullvalene, whose atoms can easily swap positions and thus arrange themselves in more than a million possible configurations, according to a CSHL statement. This atom-juggling molecule served as the perfect core for the team's new antibiotic. Two vancomycin "warheads" are attached to this shape-shifting core, with one on each end.

In the new study, when the wax moth larvae were given no treatment, about 90% died within a week of being infected with VRE. When they were given a standard dose of vancomycin, the moths' one-week survival rate went from 10% to 40%. But when they were given the new shape-shifting drug, their survival rate jumped to 70%. For context, about 70% of healthy larvae given either drug survived to the seventh day. (Note that these moth larva studies reflect only the drugs' effectiveness in these organisms, not how safe or effective they would be in humans.)

Compared with normal vancomycin, the shape-shifting drug may have had more tools at its disposal to kill the bacteria, the team reported. "We found that our shapeshifting compounds may have a new mode of action involving interaction with a key enzyme called MurJ," Moses said. This enzyme transports building materials from inside the cell to the cell wall, which helps the bacteria to multiply. "This needs much more investigation to uncover the whole picture, but it is certainly an interesting observation," he said.

And notably, according to the team's analyses, the shape-shifting antibiotic didn't drive the VRE to become resistant to the drug — normally, exposure to an antibiotic pushes bacteria to pick up new resistance strategies, to enhance its survival. The team theorizes that, by frequently changing shape, the drug can find the optimal configuration to bind to the bacterial cell wall and thus trigger the most lethal effects without giving the bacteria a clear escape route by which to avoid the attack. But that's a hypothesis, for now.

Nicoletta Lanese is the health channel editor at Live Science and was previously a news editor and staff writer at the site. She is a recipient of the 2026 AHCJ International Health Study Fellowship, with a project focused on antibiotic stewardship practices in Japan and the U.S. They hold a graduate certificate in science communication from UC Santa Cruz and degrees in neuroscience and dance from the University of Florida. Beyond Live Science, Lanese's work has appeared in The Scientist, Science News, the Mercury News, Mongabay and Stanford Medicine Magazine, among other outlets. Based in NYC, she also remains involved in dance and performs in local choreographers' work.