Sentinel microbe Acanthamoeba: Incubator of antibiotic resistance in polluted water

Competitive advantage

• Cross-disciplinary approach to resolve environmental challenges that impact on human health
• Expertise in molecular biology, antimicrobial resistance, ocular microbiology/microbiome, and microbial ecology
• Laboratories with cutting-edge techniques for antimicrobial assays and genomics
• Advantages include:
  • Novel models to demonstrate how microbial resistance genes evolve, transfer, mobilise, and disseminate via the symbiosis process in Acanthamoeba species
  • Controlling amoeba in the environment may mitigate a hotspot of resistance evolution
  • Highlighting the role of water contaminants (toxic elements) on microbial communities which could drive antimicrobial resistance

Impact

• Build-up of water pollutants will drive development of resistance to these within microbial communities. This resistance is often mediated by genes on mobile genetic elements that also contain genes for antibiotic resistance.
• Bacteria may use their ability to survive within amoeba as an additional mechanism to escape from the build-up of toxins.
• Bacteria within amoeba can also transfer resistance genes between themselves
• Dissemination of amoeba through water can disseminate resistant microbes
• Transmission of many microbes that can infect humans commonly occurs via water
• Development of novel approaches to prevent the emergence of Acanthamoeba harbouring drug resistant intracellular pathogens.

Successful outcomes

• Reducing numbers of the role of water contaminants on microbial interactions which could drive antibiotic resistance to turn back a foundation of modern medicine
• Track-record on Acanthamoeba research focusing its impact on eye health, and Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) prevention understanding symbionts and amoeba interactions

Capabilities and facilities

• Capabilities relating to overall research capability and/or important facilities
• Well-equipped laboratory facilities to identify the novel drug resistance genes in Acanthamoeba symbionts
• Wider collaboration networks with geochemists, policy experts in UK
• Advanced collaborative research arms
• Team of expertise in Acanthamoeba research and it's clinical impact particularly, ocular infection

Our partners

• UK Research and Innovation: Natural Environment Research Council
• J&J, Alcon, CooperVision, B&L
• Australian Standards and International Standards Organisation, Contact Lens Working Group