Cockroaches appear to carry a secret weapon that can protect people against deadly superbugs, new research has found.

Dr. Naveed Khan and his team tested mashed up cockroach brains against the E. coli bacteria that cause meningitis and MRSA, the staph bacteria that has become resistant to antibiotics.

A night in a Petri dish together killed 90 per cent of the bacteria, Khan told the Star on Tuesday. The insect parts had no effect on human cells, however.

“Some of these insects live in the filthiest places known to man,” he said. Because cockroaches can survive the loss of a limb, and the brains of cockroaches are the most protected parts of their bodies, researchers had decided to look there for their answers.

Tests also examined the nervous systems of locusts for superbug-fighting power, after realizing locusts were unscathed while soldiers fighting in countries such as Afghanistan were becoming infected with bacteria that resisted treatment.

“What’s exciting is that most research has generally been done on plants,” said Khan. A professor of molecular microbiology at the University of Nottingham in England, Khan has returned to his native Pakistan to help with the health disaster that has followed devastating floods in the country.

“Scientists are missing out. Nobody else has been looking at these insects as a source for much-needed antibiotics.”

Their basic analysis of the molecules in the insect brains and nervous systems revealed they are proteins and not fatty acids, a promising sign for development of antibiotics in the future. Khan and his researchers are extending their research now to see how the insect stew combats other superbugs.

Even more promising, he said, is the fact that the cockroaches and locusts they mash up are laboratory-bred and thus substantially cleaner than their outdoor cousins.

“If we use insects in the real world, what you find in the gutter or behind the fridge, we may come across even more potent activities,” said Khan.

All this research and discovery hasn’t changed the professor’s gut reaction to cockroaches, though.

“I get the same reaction as everybody else. They’re hateful. But they have been surviving for millions of years, and we can learn from them.”