Facing crises in the 21st century: microfluidics approaches for antibiotic discovery

We urgently need new antibiotics to counteract the rising in the emergence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms. To improve the identification of antimicrobial compounds of microbial origin, numerous multidisciplinary approaches are being implemented. However, the development of innovative microbial cultivation strategies is necessary to exploit the full biosynthetic potential of non-culturable microorganisms. Here, I highlight various articles that employ high-throughput microfluidic-based strategies to identify novel antimicrobial metabolites based on bacterial activities. The rapid development of this technology will likely advance the field of antibiotic discovery.MAM acknowledges funding from the Spanish Ministry ofScience and Innovation (grant Ref. PID2019-103972GA-I00) and CSIC (grant Ref. PIE-202040I003