MADISON, Wis. -- Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said they are excited about an inflection-fighting breakthrough that shows promise in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

Dr. Helen Blackwell, assistant professor of chemistry at UW-Madison, and her graduate students have been working to find a new way to fight bacteria that are becoming increasingly resistant to drugs.

"There is an urgent need to develop new anti-bacterial agents," Blackwell said.

For four years, researchers in the UW-Madison lab have worked to identify new anti-bacterial agents. They do it by spreading out a number of different mixtures of elements and minerals. The compounds are then tested against bacteria.

"We actually use these exact compounds and test them against nasty bacteria in the hopes that it will kill them," said Joey Stringer, a graduate student at UW-Madison.

The difference in Blackwell's lab is how many compounds are being tested, WISC-TV reported.

"It is very straight forward to make collections of compounds, like 50 to 200 compounds. We can easily do that in a day," Blackwell said.

The lab is already being credited for discovering four promising compounds, WISC-TV reported.

"After a few minutes, the spots with the compounds that kill bacteria will show up white and the surrounding areas red where the bacteria are happy," Stringer said.

Researchers said that the tests could lead, down to road, to a new antibiotic to help people fight infection.

"It offers a considerable amount of hope. There's just a huge need for these," Blackwell said.

Researchers said there are long-term benefits in the findings. Because the compounds have never been used as anti-bacterial agents, they could offer much longer shelf lives than the drugs currently in use.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that in the last decade alone, the number of bacterial infections resistant to antibiotics jumped, meaning that some of the most commonly prescribed antibiotic treatments don't always work.

Experts said that is why some doctors are hesitant to prescribe drugs for colds, flu and sore throats expect for strep.