As part of the Enhanced Health Protection priority area in Qatar’s National Health Strategy, 2018‐ 2022, which is focused on the decrease of antimicrobial resistance by 2022. H E Dr. Al Kuwari has stated that: “Antibiotic resistance not only threatens the effective prevention and treatment of infections, but also contributes to higher medical costs, longer hospital stays, and increased mortality [1].” There are six nosocomial pathogens that are of clinical relevance which make up the acronym ESKAPE: Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Actinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter spp [2] and it is these pathogens that are largely responsible for nosocomial infections. An extensive literature survey performed by Feuilloley et al., of antimicrobial resistance trends and prevalence of ‐lactamases in Escherichia coli and ESKAPE pathogens for Qatari patients confirms a rise in antimicrobial resistance nationally compared with the US and Europe. This was part of a study that looked at ESKAPE pathogenic infection in the Middle East and North Africa. Opportunistic pathogens, such as A. baumannii have been studied in Qatar and alarmingly, the emergence of multidrug resistance to carbapenem antibiotics demonstrates the potential for this pathogen to become a major source of nosocomial infections within the country. All of the pathogens mentioned above are Biosafety Level (BSL 2 pathogens), so the opportunity for undergraduate students to be engaged in research of such pathogens is of some difficulty. However, there are opportunistic pathogens which can cause acute infection, are BSL1 (considerably safer to work with) and present as candidates for further exploration in terms of antimicrobial susceptibility. Qatar’s National Action Plan for Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance, a Ministry of Public Health initiative (2017‐2022) recognizes the need for researchers within Qatar to build national capacity in the field of testing antimicrobial susceptibility[3]. This seed proposal aims to complement this national priority by undertaking research that involves studies of natural products and their ability to potentiate other antibiotics, or antibacterial compounds from plants. Any compound which exhibits synergy when administered with antibiotics against drug‐resistant strains of bacteria are known as adjuvants. The underlying principle is that the interaction of an antibiotic when administered with an adjuvant has deleterious effects on bacterial defense mechanisms; the most favorable outcome being for multi‐drug resistant bacteria to become susceptible once again to either, existing antibiotic treatments, or to other promising antimicrobial compounds. Many plant‐derived natural products have received attention worldwide and some with known antimicrobial properties are already available as dietary supplements. For example, berberine 1 (an isoquinoline alkaloid) holds much potential in becoming an antibacterial therapy [4]. Further, a promising, and well‐documented library of compounds include flavonoid natural products (Figure 2). These are known to potentiate numerous antibiotics and also berberine. The role of flavonoids in antimicrobial research is diverse and exploring this may lead to novel therapeutic combinations with enhanced antimicrobial efficacy that equals, or surpasses existing treatments, thus reviving the potency of less efficacious antibiotics once more. The principle aim of this study will be to evaluate and determine, where possible, the mechanistic effects flavonoid adjuvants have on bacterial host defense mechanisms with respect to both traditional antibiotics, and also berberine. Whilst there is a wealth of literature concerning the use of flavonoids with existing antibiotics, the synergy of flavonoids with berberine, and combinations of compounds that exhibit a three‐way synergy (berberine + flavonoid + antibiotic) as a combination therapy remains unexplored. An important facet of any drug discovery approach are cytotoxicity studies, which eliminates or promotes a potential drug candidate towards clinical trials. Such studies are implemented to consider whether doses to the host have negligible effects on regular cell structure and function, whilst still retaining its intended biological activity. The rationale for using flavonoids is that they are found in a number of dietary sources (fruits and vegetables), so they are generally regarded as safe. There are estimates of dietary consumption of flavonoids between 20 mg‐1g/day without any ill‐effects [5]. Lastly, this PI intends to engage undergraduate students in this antimicrobial research effort and aims to form collaborations with biological sciences faculty, here at CMU‐Q, and possibly at the home campus. This seed proposal lays a foundation towards later applying for an NPRP grant.