Dr. van der Donk has developed a screening system for identifying novel antibiotics. The system uses phage display and has been optimized for lantibiotic natural products. The system also has utility for investigating interactions between lantibiotics and other peptides. Lantibiotics have complex structures which make them particularly stable under changing pH and protease exposure as well as possessing the ability to bind to bacterial cell wall targets. This makes them ideal for scaffolds for new antibiotic discovery that can combat the burgeoning problem of antibiotic resistance