Drug-resistant bacteria — superbugs — are one of the top disease threats for the coming years, according to experts. Jeremy Farrar, director of the United Kingdom's Welcome Trust medical charity said he believes it will be the most important emerging infectious disease in the 21st century. But a researcher at the University of Auckland is using bioluminescence to fight superbugs and other infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis.
 

Bioluminescence is a chemical reaction that produces and emits light in living organisms. It is found in fireflies and glow worms. Microbiologist Dr. Siouxsie Wiles takes bioluminescent  genes and inserts them into bacteria, such as superbugs, in order to  make them glow. She hopes that bioluminescence can be used to discover a cure for diseases like the superbug MRSA.
 

The method is important, Wiles says, because it means they can study the bacteria more easily and test the effectiveness of antibiotics.
 

Researchers are looking for new antibiotics, Wiles says, and using bioluminescence means a potential cure for a superbug can be tested in minutes instead of the weeks it would normally take to grow the bacteria in petri dishes.
 

"As soon as we kill this bacteria, they stop glowing," Wiles told Australia's The Age. "So it means that we can tell really quickly if potential antibiotics are working by just looking for light."