By speaking the language of bacteria, researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo have made a critical advance in the development of what could be a new class of antibiotics. Such drugs could eventually combat a host of currently incurable infections-including those caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that chronically infects nearly 70 percent of cystic-fibrosis patients.

Most antibiotics block bacteria's ability to synthesize proteins or cell membranes, says biochemist Hiroaki Suga, who led the effort, but "our approach targets a completely different system." That system is a means of communication that many species of bacteria use to gang up on their hosts. Alone, these bacteria are often harmless and susceptible to regular antibiotics. But once they reach a critical density and begin to communicate through chemicals they emit, they cooperate to boost their virulence and evade traditional treatments by, for example, forming slimy biofilms.