17 Jul 2018 --- Antibiotic resistance has become one of the biggest threats to global health and food security. In light of antibiotics becoming less effective against superbugs, a Swinburne University researcher is studying traditional agents to modify the behavior of bacteria, rather than killing them. Dr. Sanjida Halim Topa investigated cinnamaldehyde, the compound that gives cinnamon its flavor, and found that it inhibited the development of biofilm, a sticky film of bacteria – like the plaque that forms on teeth – that can cause persistent infections, which resist even the most potent antibiotics.