Much of modern medicine relies on the continued efficacy of antibiotics, but the disease-causing bacteria that are targeted by antibiotics are becoming increasingly resistant to them. To make matters worse, many pharmaceutical companies have reduced or suspended their antibiotic discovery programs because antibiotics are not as profitable as drugs such as cholesterol lowering drugs that must be taken daily for many years. The presentation will consider the implications of these developments for a variety of areas ranging from treatment of human disease to agriculture, and possible solutions to the antibiotic problem will be discussed. CAS Professor Salyers is also the Arends Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Professor of Basic Medical Science.