Pioneering scientist Kirsty Smitten who created a new class of antibiotics that could save millions of lives dies aged just 29

A brilliant young scientist who created a new class of antibiotics that could save millions of lives and prevent medical disasters has died aged just 29.

Kirsty Smitten was given just months to live in February after being diagnosed with heart cancer, a terminal disease so rare that it affects only two people a year in the UK and her fight for life in the early hours of 4 October lost.

She was being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for seven weeks before her death. Her family was at her bedside during her last hours.

Her sister-in-law Sukhi Smitten, wife of her older brother Matt, said: ‘Kirsty fought until the end but it was such an aggressive cancer that she couldn’t beat it.

‘She kept saying how much she had to live for – her brother, Dan, is getting married in November and Matt and I are expecting a baby in February. She would have been the most wonderful auntie. We are all sad.’

Kirsty Smitten (pictured in 2018) was given just months to live in February after being diagnosed with heart cancer, a terminal disease so rare it only affects two people a year in the UK, and her fight for life lost in the early hours of October 4

Ms Smitten (pictured) has developed two antibiotic compounds with her team at Metallo Bio to treat bacterial infections, including strands of pneumonia and meningitis that have become resistant to the drugs usually used to treat them, as well as infections that occur in wounds develop and after surgery

The family, from Solihull, were still reeling from the sudden death of Ms Smitten’s apparently healthy father Kevin, 61, who suffered a heart attack while playing football in Portugal in October, when they began to fear for her health has.

Ms Smitten, who played hockey and soccer every day, woke up in the night last November with excruciating chest pains, The Mail On Sunday reported earlier this year.

It took three months of tests before she was finally diagnosed with cardiac angiosarcoma – a tumor in her heart.

This type of tumor will grow back and is likely to spread or burst, causing her heart to fail, and Kirsty had no doubt it was a death sentence, but hoped to live long enough for a cure to be found.

During the early months, the biochemist, who had a PhD in Chemistry and was named to Forbes magazine’s prestigious 30 Under 30 list for science and healthcare in 2020, continued to lead the fight against antimicrobial resistance – which the World Health Organization to name one. of the biggest threats to global health – which has seen bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites evolve over time and no longer respond to medicine.

With her team at Metallo Bio, a company she founded with the support of her PhD supervisor at Sheffield University, Ms Smitten has developed two antibiotic compounds to treat bacterial infections, including bouts of pneumonia and meningitis that have become resistant to the drugs which is usually used to treat them, as well as infections that develop in wounds and after surgery.

Ms Smitten’s family are keen that her legacy, both in bringing the new class of antibiotics to the public and raising awareness of cardiac angiosarcoma, continues after her death

However, in recent weeks she has been unable to work as she struggled to breathe or walk around her hospital bed.

Her family is keen for her legacy, both to bring the new class of antibiotics to the public and to raise awareness about cardiac angiosarcoma – she posted regularly on Tiktok and Instagram and supported other sufferers online – to live on after her death.