Oliver Jamieson
A cheap test with fast, easy read-out to detect antibiotics in wastewater.
Email: o.d.jamieson2@ncl.ac.uk
Supervisors
Project description
Antibiotic resistance is a huge concern in today’s society. There are estimations that, in Europe, 25,000 deaths a year occur as a result of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria.
It is also a huge financial burden. There can be losses of €1.6 billion on a group of resistant bacteria, and this figure is only going to rise.
The growth of resistance to antibiotics is a major problem. Figures like these will only grow, along with mortalities and financial strains on healthcare systems.
The replication of a bacteria population sometimes leads to imperfect replication. Mutations can occur that can lead to antimicrobial resistance.
There are many routes to tackling antibiotic resistance. One such route is the reduction of antibiotics entering water systems. This limits the interactions between bacteria and antibiotics. It results in a reduction in the rate of antimicrobial resistant growth.
Pharmaceuticals, like antibiotics, find their way into water systems via a plethora of routes. The main contributors are highly populated residential areas, agriculture, and overuse in medicine. Beta lactam antibiotics are on the list of modern essential medicines of the World Health Organization. But there are growing concerns of the ecological impact of these pharmaceuticals. This is leading to a greater need to improve current wastewater treatment procedures.
The present study looks at developing a fast read-out, cheap and easy sensing platform to test samples from water systems. It will pinpoint where antibiotics are present. Once we know where antibiotics are present in effluent, we can take further action to reduce the rate of antimicrobial resistance. This is the first step in a long process to reduce the growth rate of AMR bacteria.
Qualifications
MChem Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Manchester Metropolitan University