‘Coral corral’ and award-winning startup help IU researchers attack antibiotic resistance
In the basement of the Biology Building on the landlocked Indiana University Bloomington campus, two scientists are using small corals growing in a tank of salt water to fight antibiotic resistance, which causes an estimated 2.8 million treatment-resistant infections and 35,000 deaths in the U.S. every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.“A bunch of the corals died last week, which is why we only have three today,” said Julia van Kessel, associate professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, who set up the coral lab or “coral corral” with National Science Foundation funding in 2022.
The College of Arts