What do frogs and teflon have in common besides the frying pan? They're helping science get a jump on (as it were) resistant antibiotic strains.

Research scientists at the University of Michigan have identified antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) on the skin of frogs--but the AMPs that work so well on the skin's surface have a couple of nasty habits inside a host. They break down when exposed to enzymes, and they have a tendency to stick to and damage host cells.

Dr. Neil Marsh has found an ingenious solution to both problems--coating the AMPs with nonreactive fluorine coating --aka teflon.

According to the story at Discover.com, the "same technology that keeps your eggs (or frog legs) from sticking to the pan may someday be a key part of a new family of antibiotics." Marsh’s Teflon-tipped AMPs show promise--the story says they may even work a bit better than natural, untreated AMPs, at least against some bacteria.