The growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance has intensified the search for infection prevention strategies that do not rely on traditional antibiotics. A team led by MIT chemistry professor Laura Kiessling has identified a naturally occurring protein that may offer a new line of defense against gastrointestinal pathogens, according to a report in MIT Technology Review. The protein, discovered through structural and functional analysis, appears to block bacterial adhesion to the intestinal lining, a critical early step in infection. The finding shifts attention from killing bacteria to disrupting their ability to colonize. Whether this mechanism can be translated into a durable clinical intervention remains unresolved, particularly given the complexity of the gut microbiome and the challenge of delivering biologics through the digestive tract.