Detalle de: Expanding the One Health approach to combat antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance (AR) represents one of the main threats for public health worldwide. Our research group has worked for several years in the application of methods and concepts from evolutionary and molecular population genetics to the study of microbial pathogens, a field of research known as molecular epidemiology. Apart from basic research questions, we analyze problems and return results to public health authorities, thus achieving an interesting application of a basic research discipline. Antimicrobial resistance is a complex problem, with impact on the clinical, farming, and environmental realms. All three are interconnected and, in consequence, combating AR requires an integral approach, known as “One Health”: a multidisciplinary, coordinated strategy to solve the AR problem. In this project, we aim at extending the study of AR beyond the usual limits of the One Health approach. For this, we will integrate the surveillance and monitoring of two of the most relevant resistant bacteria: carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). We will analyze clinical, farm, food, and environmental samples using high-throughput sequencing. In addition, we will perform controlled experiments in model systems to analyze the intra- and interspecies spread of resistance genes. Finally, we will use an experimental approach to investigate the differences between strains with differential zoonosis potential on the evolution of resistance to antibiotics in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, still the major cause of death from an infectious disease in the world.