Scientists at The University of Manchester are part of three of eight new networks combining different research specialisms to tackle one of humanity's greatest threats: antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The networks will share £4.8m from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), awarded as part of its Tackling Infections strategic theme. This programme will continue next year with a new opportunity for ambitious new transdisciplinary research programmes, which will be based on a dedicated budget of at least £7m.
The People AMR Network, led by Sarah Tonkin-Crine at the University of Oxford, will consider how communities could best use antibiotics to minimise AMR through behaviour change.
The network will explore ways to help people make decisions about antibiotic use, develop new strategies and tools, and study them to ensure they are targeted at the right people, the right behaviours and the right settings to have the greatest impact at the right time at the lowest possible cost. The community will include representatives of the public, as well as GPs, dentists, pharmacists, veterinarians and business leaders.
Dr Wendy Thompson, from the University of Manchester and co-leader of the study, said: “From antibiotics for an abscessed tooth to antifungals for mould in the bathroom, we take antimicrobials for granted. Yet the more we use them for things where they are not strictly necessary, such as toothache, the less often they will work when they are vital, such as sepsis.
“I am therefore pleased to lead the dental part of this people-centred approach to help ensure that future generations continue to benefit from antimicrobials that work.”
The Fungal One Health and Antimicrobial Resistance network, led by Darius Armstrong-James at Imperial College London, will focus on the emergence of antifungal resistance and the development of countermeasures to combat it, in collaboration with the University of Manchester.
The network will span the health, agriculture and pharmaceutical sectors, as well as key government departments and end-users in these areas. It will address the underlying causes of resistance, surveillance, agricultural residues and water-related hotspots, as well as the development of countermeasures and interventions to mitigate resistance.
Dr Michael Bromley, from the University of Manchester and one of those leading the study, said: “Pathogenic fungi cause devastating losses to all our staple foods, including wheat, rice, maize, soya and sugar cane. To combat these losses, which alone are enough to feed around half the world’s population, millions of tonnes of fungicides are sprayed. This widespread and sometimes illegal use has led to the emergence of drug resistance in many plant pathogenic fungi, putting pressure on our food security.
“Even worse, these fungicides have also led to the emergence of drug resistance in human pathogenic fungi. I will lead a group to understand how we can balance the critical need for fungicide use on crops with the negative impacts they have on increasing resistance and how we can better work with governments to prevent the emergence of resistance to the new generation of antifungals.”
The Accurate, Rapid, Robust and Cost-Effective One Health DiagnoSTics Network for Antimicrobial Resistance will focus on diagnostic tools. It will coordinate and develop practical solutions for diagnostics in both animals and plants, in a variety of settings and is led by Mark Bradley from Queen Mary University of London, with collaborators from the University of Manchester.
This will be addressed by identifying needs across sectors, developing research and innovation, standardising assessment, supporting implementation and sharing findings.
The new networks will support diverse teams of AMR researchers, from agriculture, food and environmental specialists to human and animal medicine, policy and behavioural studies, engineering and social sciences. Together they will develop new partnerships and approaches to address AMR across sectors and disciplines, including culture, economics, behaviour, biomedical and physical sciences, design and engineering, environmental sciences and more.
Dr Colin Miles, Director of Strategy, Advanced Manufacturing and Clean Growth at UKRI, said:
“Tackling the growing pandemic of antimicrobial resistance (the growing resistance to antibiotics) is a broad and complex problem. It is estimated that by 2050, ten million people will die each year from this disease.
“Rather than adopting single-disciplinary approaches, we need researchers from all disciplines to come together and examine all aspects of the problem: from human behavior and how we farm and raise animals for consumption to how we manage the environment or use technology, clinical management strategies or challenge established cultural norms.”