The world is facing a major threat from tiny killers that have learned to resist the antibiotics traditionally used to treat them.
But an ancient creature lurking under the sea could hold the answer to new drugs.
Chemical compounds from nature have long been used to develop medicine to fight bacterial infections.
But overuse has led to the emergence of superbugs, and they are wreaking havoc.
"We don't have any treatments and the sad reality is we have seen some infections that are resistant to every drug that we have," Monash University's Associate Professor Jeremy Barr said.
"That is a really terrifying reality that we are facing."
Experts are warning we are in a race against time to find new treatments.
"It's predicted that in the next 10 to 20 years antibiotic resistance may become the number one killer, overtaking heart disease and cancer so this is a big problem, it's really scary and it is only going to get worse," Mr Barr said.
The hunt for new drugs has taken scientists from land to the oceans.
They believe our seas are an untapped treasure trove of the medicine of the future.
"The ocean is really a soup of microorganisms," UTS marine microbiologist Justin Seymour said.
"Every millilitre of seawater has about a million bacteria in it."
These bacteria could contain chemical properties which may have pharmaceutical potential.
University of New South Wales researcher Emmanuelle Botte is looking for them in collaboration with the Sydney Institute of Marine Science — and they like their chances.
"You're six times more likely to find drugs in the marine environment nowadays than in the terrestrial environment," Ms Botte said.
But scientists need to study these microbes closely if they want to harness their potential health benefits, and that means being able to grow them.
A task easier said than done.
According to Ms Botte, unless you can grow them, you won't be able to study them.
"The problem is, it's really difficult to grow microbes, in particular marine microbes.
"And the reason why is because they live in environments that are very difficult to reproduce in a laboratory setting."
The lab she works in has come up with a solution that has never been attempted with a sea sponge.
She is using a tiny chip to grow select marine bacteria inside a sea sponge, making the world's oldest animal a living petri dish.
The sponge is a filter feeder, meaning it has long become a home for a myriad of different ocean microorganisms which it sucks in.
The research is being funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which is known for backing high-risk science.
"This is going to be a mini-chip that will be roughly the size of a sim card and the same thickness," Ms Botte said.
"We have 1,600 wells in this Symbio-chip which will hopefully help us to grow sponge-associated microbes in the natural environment."
The potential to find new drugs was exciting for researchers, but that elation was tempered by the waning health of our oceans.
"One of the things we are learning is that climate change is having a big impact on the ocean from a number of different angles," Mr Seymour said.
He said the potential for harnessing drugs from the seas relied on its biodiversity, including its microbes.
"We could really be shooting ourselves in the foot by removing things that could be quite helpful for us in the future."
Experts warned it was not just the big creatures we associate with our seas that were at risk.
"I think a lot of the conservation in the ocean and also in other environments is on sort of the charismatic larger animals, so we hear a lot that; conserving whales and dolphins and things like that," Mr Seymour said.
They are urging everyone to play their part in conserving all creatures, great and microscopic.
"It's really hard to feel very much connected to microbes because you don't see them, but they are in the background and they are really the architect of the oceans," Ms Botte said.
