Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an ever-growing issue that threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an increasing range of infections caused by microorganisms, including various bacterial species. Classical antibiotics target essential functions, such as DNA, RNA or protein synthesis, in bacteria, thus imposing extreme selective pressures on the target microorganisms, which leads to the clonal emergence of escape mutants and contributes to the growing burden of AMR. In this context, targeting bacterial virulence, i.e. the capacity of pathogenic microorganisms to colonize and persist in their hosts, show great promise for developing alternative adjunct therapies to be used in combination with classical antibiotic treatments. In addition to escape mutants, which are genetically resistant to antimicrobials, antibiotic treatment is inefficient against sub-populations of so-called bacterial “persisters”, which are phenotypically tolerant to antibiotic treatment although their genome is identical to that of the rest of the bacterial population. The role of toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems in bacterial virulence and in the formation of bacterial persisters is now widely recognized, and targeting these systems is considered a most promising strategy to disarm pathogens and counter AMR. The overall goal of our project is to assemble a consortium of world-renown experts in bacterial persistence and TA systems in order to submit an Initial Training Network (ITN) proposal to the MSCA-ITN-2019 call. The proposal will combine research-based training in the field of antimicrobial research and development together with training in relevant transferable skills such as IP management, communication and entrepreneurship. Here we have assembled a core consortium of relevant experts of international repute. The MRSEI grant will allow us enlarging and consolidating this core consortium with additional complementary partners from the public and private sectors, either as direct beneficiaries or as associated partners. Combining the skills in microbial research and analytics with industrial quality management and transferable skills will increase the chances of our early stage researchers of productive and successful careers in their chosen sectors.