University of Oxford researchers are working to tackle antimicrobial resistance, which is believed to be a growing threat to global health.
Antimicrobial resistance is turning common infections, once easily treated by antibiotics, into life-threatening conditions.
By 2050 it is predicted that more than 10 million deaths will be caused by drug-resistant infections every year.
The Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI) was created in 2021 to address this issue. Among those working towards solutions are the graduate students at Oxford.
At the IOI, 34 DPhil students from around the world are part of focused research projects dedicated to developing new antibiotics or studying antimicrobial resistance's global spread and impact.
Among the students is Kate Cook, currently researching at Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital in Kano, Nigeria.
She is investigating causes of wound infections in hospital wards and the role of insects, such as flies and cockroaches, in spreading bacteria.
She identifies which kinds of bacteria are causing infections in patients, then investigates whether these bacteria are also present on hospital surfaces, and in insects caught on the wards.
Ms Cook said: "Designing creative experiments is the best part of my work.
"It can be challenging when there are huge numbers of samples to analyse, and trying to figure out how the bacterial transmission networks fit together, but the project is very rewarding.
“The opportunity to work with the team in Kano, who are equally as passionate about the project has been amazing.”
PhD student Shonnette Premchand-Branker, also a part of the IOI, is studying the role of flies in spreading antibiotic resistance in hospitals with high antibiotic use.
She is compiling and analysing fly samples from hospitals across the globe.
She said: "The flies are sent to our lab in Oxford after they have been collected and labelled in hospitals.
"Our first step is to homogenise them, which basically means we make fly juice.
"The next step is to prepare bacterial cultures, and then extract and sequence their DNA.
"We’re looking for antimicrobial resistance genes that we know are related to multidrug-resistant infections."
Nigerian-born DPhil student, Chinenye Akpulu, studies the link between the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in babies and their gut microbiome, as part of the Burden of Antibiotic Resistance in Neonates from Developing Societies (BARNARDS) study.
Ms Akpulu said: "I am drawn to research that directly benefits people, and the work that the BARNARDS team were doing really resonated with me - not just scientific enquiry but helping the community itself by translating research into better clinical outcomes.”
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