Our study focuses on clinically important bacterial pathogens, for which the ever-increasing antibiotic resistance requires new treatment options. Every successful pathogenic bacterium must defend itself against the complement system, a central part of the innate immune system. We have previously shown that many bacteria thus cover their surface with human complement inhibitors as a defense and we now want to investigate whether this property can be used for the development of new treatment with recombinant fusion proteins. These fusion proteins should prevent interactions with complement inhibitors while initiating complement attack on the bacterial surface. An advantage of the therapeutic use of these molecules is the low risk of resistance development, as the ability to bind complement inhibitors that our fusion proteins exploit provides a survival advantage. We will investigate whether our fusion proteins are effective against infections with Neisseria gonorrhoeae (a common STD) and gram-negative bacteria that infect burn wounds. Clinical isolates will be used to estimate the proportion of these infections that could be successfully treated with our fusion proteins.