One of CMR’s newest group leaders, Dr Luis Pedro Coelho, has been awarded funding from the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR)
The project, Surveillance for Emerging Antimicrobial Resistance through Characterization of the uncharted Environmental Resistome (SEARCHER), is a large international consortium, where the Centre for Microbiome Research will work with groups in Sweden, France, Germany, Pakistan and Nigeria to address the critical issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR is a major healthcare issue requiring urgent concerted action. A key obstacle in combating AMR is the difficulty in identifying new and dangerous antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) before they become widespread in harmful bacteria.
To tackle this, SEARCHER focuses on characterizing emergent ARGs in the environment in order to include them in AMR surveillance and detection before they pose clinical problems. The research team’s approach will include a mixture of novel computational method development, artificial intelligence to understand the risk associated with previously uncharacterised genes, and extensive data collection (including advanced methods in underexplored environments at the interface of humans, animals, and the environment).
We look forward to being part of this exciting research program. Congratulations, Luis!
Read more about the project here: https://lnkd.in/gptNeNmJ