We are hiring: Research Assistant / Associate in Microbial Genetics within Water Systems

Posted on 30 November 2020 by ndwg2

We are looking for a highly motivated person to join our team on a 24-month full- time position funded by our UK-India NERC project “AMRflows: antimicrobials and resistance from manufacturing flows to people”. We are seeking someone with advanced skills and experience in molecular microbial ecology, flow cytometry, and-or bioinformatics and biostatistical analysis, ideally within a water-engineering context. The aim of the post is to develop new ways of quantifying rates and frequencies of horizontal gene transfer related to antibiotic resistance in the environment. The post also may assist our work quantifying SARS-CoV-2 spread in the environment. A full job description and how to apply is available at here. The closing date is 3 January 2021.

New ES&T Publication: Impact of redox conditions on antibiotic resistance conjugative gene transfer frequency and plasmid fate in wastewater ecosystems

Posted on 16 November 2020 by ndwg2

We are happy to present our new publication in Environmental Science & Technology. This paper is from Mui-Choo (Florence) Jong’s PhD research on antibiotic resistance (AR) gene transfer in low-energy sponge bioreactors. Florence showed sequential redox conditions generally enhanced AR gene removal, but she also observed very different gene transfer frequencies under different conditions. To test this observation, she developed a reporter assay using a green-fluorescent-protein tagged E. coli to track conjugative AR plasmid fate; the survival of the E. coli host cells; and gene exchange activity in aerobic, anoxic and anaerobic bioreactors, both in biofilms and the liquid phase. Overall, her work, reported in ES&T, show that aerobic conditions are better at reducing AR levels and gene transfer in wastewater ecosystems, perhaps due to the reduced host survival and in situ predation. This has major practical implications to wastewater treatment process design.

Microscopy analysis showing (A & C) Phase contrast, and (B & D) epifluorescence images of food vacuoles expressing Gfp fluorescence suggesting pRP4 host cells potentially engulfed by predatory protozoa.

Alumni Day talk online: Fighting the Next Pandemic: Water quality, antimicrobial resistance and global health

Posted on 7 November 2020 by

David Graham recently provided the 2020 Newcastle University Alumni Day lecture and it is now available online (in case you missed it). The talk called “Fighting the Next Pandemic: Water quality, antimicrobial resistance and global health” is available here or see it below. It addresses links between water quality and the spread of resistant infectious disease – which could potentially lead to the next pandemic. Parallels and lessons between antibiotic resistance and Covid-19 are discussed.

Our wastewater epidemiology research on BBC Look North

Posted on 3 November 2020 by

Really good series of pieces on SARS-CoV-2 wastewater epidemiology by BBC Look North. Credit to Marcos Quintela-Baluja, Kelly Jobling, Vincenzo Padricello, Katie Robins, and Rui Xin. See https://twitter.com/i/status/1323721151005233152 and https://twitter.com/i/status/1323719413191901185.

Look for us at the World One Health Congress 2020

Posted on 30 October 2020 by ndwg2

We are very pleased to present some of the group’s research in three talks and two posters at the 6^th World One Health Congress. If you are registered for WOHC be sure to check them out, and send us your feedback at grahAMR@newcastle.ac.uk.

David W Graham – Source tracking and predicting antibiotic resistance exposures along two SE Asian rivers with inconsistent wastewater management
Pani Adamou – Contribution of different treatment technologies at reducing total cell and viable cell ARGs from discharged wastewater
Marcos Quintela-Baluja – Targeted metagenomics for source attribution of Antimicrobial Resistance in Urban systems
Myra Giesen – Knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions towards antibiotics and AMR among slum dwellers and medical practitioners in New Delhi
Andrew Zealand – Contrasting resistomes of the guts of infants, and water and wastewater exposures

Also, David is chairing the session Water and wastewater: fate and treatment of AMR – Friday 30 October 12:00 – 14:00 CET, while Marcos is chairing the session Environmental exposures: Water and wastewater – Monday 2 November 20:00 – 22:00 CET.

Amelie is on a POST Fellowship

Posted on 16 October 2020 by

In September, Amelie started a three-months fellowship in UK Parliament. She is working in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), the Parliament’s in-house source of independent, balanced and accessible analysis of public policy issues related to science and technology. Within this fellowship, Amelie is learning how to write for policy and express complex ideas to a broad audience. At the end, Amelie will publish an impartial briefing for Members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords on screen time/use and health in young people. Amelie’s fellowship is sponsored by the Nuffield Foundation.

Pani is now a Senior Scientist at Cignpost Dignostics

Posted on 23 September 2020 by ndwg2

More great news about Pani; she’s been hired as a Senior Scientist at Cignpost Dignostics (CD) to screen samples for Sars-CoV-2. CD provides this service to companies where social distancing measures are either impractical or unproductive, helping employers to create a safe working zone through testing. CD test samples on site, either in fixed or mobile lab units, providing accurate results within 2 hours using rapid health diagnostics. They test approximately 200 samples per day. Pani makes sure PCR results are accurate and meet standards, deals with any issues arising during the process, and delivers results on time. This is a great new experience for Pani; we are pleased to report she is happy being involved in a project related to COVID-19 screening in industry.

Congratulations Dr Panagiota Adamou

Posted on 16 September 2020 by

It is official, Pani was been awarded her doctorate in Environmental Engineering. Her dissertation title is Assessing treatment technologies for reducing antibiotic resistant gene abundance and diversity in domestic wastewater treatment effluents. Well done Pani!!

Finalist for the THE Awards 2020

Posted on 11 September 2020 by b7034118

Happy to announce our research has been short-listed in the STEM Project of the Year category for the THE Awards (Times Higher Education). Engineering a halt to the ‘superbug’ highlights our research on relationships among environmental pollution, inadequate sanitation, and antibiotic resistance around world. Impact story is described here. Winner announcement on 26 November 2020.

Upcoming Talk: Fighting the Next Pandemic: Water quality, antimicrobial resistance, and global health

Posted on 2 September 2020 by ndwg2

Prof David Graham will be speaking at the Newcastle Alumni Day on Saturday, 10th October 2020. The lecture is open to Newcastle graduates, current and retired staff, supporters, and others; you can register here. David will discuss links between water quality and resistant infectious disease – which could potentially lead to the next pandemic. Antimicrobial resistance already is rampant in the developing world, partially due to poor water quality. However, it is growing everywhere due to global connectedness. David will present evidence of this spread before discussing holistic solutions.