Surface active antibiotics in action: a real-time study of the killing mechanism using high speed-atomic force microscopy

Antimicrobial resistance is becoming an increasingly large concern in modern health care. Understanding the mode of action of existing and new antibiotics candidates is essential in order to efficiently design novel antibiotics against multidrug-resistant bacteria. Despite this significance, the molecular mechanisms for many antimicrobials are still poorly understood. Due to their rapid activity at the nanoscale, a detailed mechanistic insight of the molecular interactions between antimicrobials and the target membrane is difficult to achieve.