Scientists Discover Cheap Material That Kills Deadly Superbugs

A new sulfur-rich antimicrobial polymer shows strong effectiveness against fungal and bacterial pathogens and may offer an affordable solution to antimicrobial resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance is creating growing challenges for both healthcare and food production, increasing the need for affordable new materials that can fight dangerous pathogens.

A multidisciplinary team led by Flinders University, working with researchers from the UK, has developed a new material designed for safe and effective antimicrobial and antifungal use.

The World Health Organization has identified antimicrobial resistance as one of the century’s most serious global health threats. The problem involves dangerous pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, non-typhoidal Salmonella, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Novel Sulfur-Based Polymer Shows Promise

“Importantly, the antimicrobial does not harm human or plant cells, so it has potential in medicine and agriculture,” says Professor Justin Chalker, whose research group recently created an innovative photochemical reaction used in the new study published in Chemical Science.

“The new antimicrobial is a sulfur-rich polymer material which overcome previous limitations in sulfur-based preparations and shows impressive potency against a variety of fungal and bacterial pathogens.”

Sulfur and sulfur-based compounds have been used as antimicrobials for many years, but they are often malodorous (strong smelling) and difficult to formulate because of their limited solubility.

Researchers Highlight Medical and Agricultural Potential

Lead author Dr. Jasmine Pople says sulfur-based chemistry could play an important role in creating next-generation antimicrobial treatments.

“Antimicrobial resistance, particularly in fungal pathogens, is an increasing clinical and agricultural threat,” she says.

“It has the potential in the future to be part of effective, low-cost medicines and broad-scale agrichemical solutions,” says Dr. Pople, who first identified the antimicrobial activity during an Australian Research Council exchange at collaborator Dr. Tom Hasell’s lab at the University of Liverpool in 2024.

Researchers have since tested the material against multiple pathogenic strains with support from additional Flinders University experts, including virologist Professor Jillian Carr, as well as funding from a Flinders Foundation Health Seed Grant.

Sustainable Sulfur Innovations Beyond Antimicrobials

Coauthor and microbiologist Associate Professor Bart Eijkelkamp says combining advanced chemical synthesis with extensive biological testing across major pathogens strengthened the findings.

Professor Chalker says the antimicrobial polymer project is part of broader efforts at Flinders University to transform surplus elemental sulfur into useful high-value materials.

Other developments include sulfur-rich polymers that recover gold from electronic waste, easy-to-recycle plastics, and low-cost lenses for thermal imaging cameras. These innovations have been published in Nature Sustainability, Nature Chemistry, and Nature Communications, respectively.

Reference: “A poly(trisulfide) oligomer with antimicrobial activity” by Jasmine M. M. Pople, Ocean E. Clarke, Romy A. Dop, Thomas P. Nicholls, Harshal D. Patel, Witold M. Bloch, Zhongfan Jia, Sara J. Fraser-Miller, Evangeline C. Cowell, Jillian M. Carr, Daniel R. Neill, Joanne L. Fothergill, Bart A. Eijkelkamp, Tom Hasell and Justin M. Chalker, 16 April 2026, Chemical Science.
DOI: 10.1039/D5SC09816E

The project was funded by the Australian Research Council (DP230100587, FT220100054, FT240100330, DE250100525) and a Flinders Foundation Health Seed Grant.

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