There’s an arms race in medicine—scientists design drugs to treat lethal bacterial infections, but bacteria can evolve defenses to those drugs, sending the researchers back to square one. In an article published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a University of California, Irvine-led team describes the development of a drug candidate that can stop bacteria before they have a chance to cause harm.

“The issue with antibiotics is this crisis of antibiotic resistance,” said Sophia Padilla, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry and lead author of the new study. “When it comes to antibiotics, bacteria can evolve defenses against them—they’re becoming stronger and always getting better at protecting themselves.”

About 35,000 people in the U.S. die each year from antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections from pathogens like Staphylococcus, while about 2.8 million people suffer from bacteria-related illnesses.