Attendance figures for Purdue University’s third Antimicrobial Resistance Conference demonstrate increasing interest in the event’s interdisciplinary approach to the topic that the World Health Organization (WHO) identifies as one of the top global public health and development threats. The conference last month at Purdue’s Stewart Center featured distinguished keynote speakers and Purdue scholars from a variety of disciplines who shared the latest research findings and insights regarding the challenges posed by antibiotic resistance.
Hosted collaboratively by the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture, Science and Pharmacy, the conference featured three keynote speakers from across the U.S. and the United Kingdom, and nine researchers with expertise on the topic of AMR, from Purdue, Purdue Northwest and Indiana University. A virtual attendance option enabled a number of people to participate from countries abroad. The more than 100 in-person attendees included participants from Canada, Nigeria, Somalia and the U.K. Virtual participants joined in the proceedings from Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Switzerland and the U.K.
Purdue Veterinary Medicine Dean Bret Marsh and Vice President for Health Affairs, Eric Barker, opened the conference by welcoming the participants and encouraging them to take advantage of the opportunities the conference provided for networking and collaboration. The Conference program focused on three critical aspects of AMR: Determinants, Dynamics and Deterrence. Each focus area was addressed by a keynote speaker who was followed by three researchers with relevant expertise. Each segment concluded with a question-and-answer session featuring a panel consisting of the speakers.
Leading off as the opening keynote speaker, Dr. Devendra Shah, professor of veterinary microbiology and infectious disease at Texas Tech University, addressed the topic, “Unraveling the Complex Drivers of AMR: Antibiotics, Pathogens, and Ecosystems.” A distinguished expert in infectious diseases and food safety, Dr. Shah explored the dynamic interactions between antibiotics, bacterial pathogens, and ecosystems, emphasizing the need to move beyond simplistic views of antibiotic use and resistance to a more holistic approach to understanding AMR. He was followed by Dr. Dielson Vieira, PVM clinical assistant professor of basic medical sciences; Dr. Lindsay Gielda, associate professor of biological sciences at Purdue University Northwest; and Dr. Wendy Beauvais, PVM assistant professor of epidemiology and public health.
The program continued in the afternoon with the second segment on Dynamics, which featured a keynote presentation by Dr. Fiona Henriquez-Mui, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. In her talk, entitled, “The Role of Amoebae in the Emergence of Bacterial Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment and Considerations for One Health,” Dr. Henriquez-Mui shared her findings on how the interactions between Free-living amoeba and bacteria contribute to the survival and evolution of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. She was followed by three Purdue scholars: Dr. Elsje Peinaar, assistant professor of biomedical engineering; Dr. George (Zhi) Zhou, associate professor of civil engineering and environmental and ecological engineering; and Dr. Mindy Anderson, PVM clinical associate professor of basic medical sciences.
On the second day, the concluding segment of the conference focused on Deterrence, and featured as the keynote speaker Dr. Amy Pruden-Bagchi, the W. Thomas Rice Professor and University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. Dr. Pruden-Bagchi conducts research on the environmental implications of antimicrobial resistance genes, the role of water infrastructure in AMR spread, and the application of molecular tools in surveillance efforts. Her presentation entitled, “A Comprehensive Strategy to Mitigate AMR Informed by Omics-based Environmental Surveillance,” highlighted the use of metagenomic sequencing to monitor antimicrobial resistance genes and other genetic markers in wastewater and environmental samples. She was followed by Dr. Ahmed Abdelkhalek Hassan, a PVM research assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology; Dr. Karen Bush, professor of practice emerita at Indiana University Bloomington; and Dr. John Allen, professor and head of Purdue’s Department of Pharmacy Practice.
In addition to the lectures, the conference featured a poster competition that attracted two-dozen entries from Purdue undergraduate students, graduate students and post docs who highlighted research they are doing in laboratories on the Purdue campus. Conference attendees had the opportunity to view the posters and visit with the poster presenters during a reception at the conclusion of the first day.
The conference wrapped up at midday on February 27 with concluding remarks by Dr. Sanjeev Narayanan, Purdue professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology and head of the Department of Comparative Pathobiology, who also presented prizes to the Poster Competition winners. Awards were given in two divisions. Congratulations to the following award winners:
- Undergraduate Division – First place: Shreyes Kanumuru, a Purdue biochemistry student, for his poster entitled “The In Vitro Activity of Repurposed Drugs Against Different Strains of Balamuthia mandrillaris.”
- Graduate Student Division – First-place: Carolyn Metcalfe, College of Pharmacy graduate student, for her poster, “Investigating in vivo Characteristics of Acetazolamide Derived Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors in Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci Infections and Their Effect on the Microbiome”; Second-place: Michelle Bush, a PhD student in biological sciences, for her poster entitled, “Structural insights into the dynamic interplay between BAM and Chaperones during OMP biogenesis in E. Coli.”
The conference was sponsored in part by Qiagen, IMMY and Integra who had representatives on-site to demonstrate their lab equipment and products to the attendees. Special thanks to the members of the conference Steering Committee of Dr. Kenitra Hendrix, Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory director and clinical associate professor of veterinary diagnostic microbiology; Dr. Tim Johnson, associate professor of animal sciences in the College of Agriculture; Dr. Deepti Pillai, clinical associate professor of diagnostic microbiology; and Dr. Chris Rice, assistant professor of parasitology, both of the Department of Comparative Pathobiology.
Planning already is underway for the fourth annual Purdue AMR conference. “This conference provides a significant opportunity for scholars from across the Purdue campus to come together to share their expertise and research on antimicrobial resistance and to hear from leading AMR experts nationally and internationally who participate as keynote speakers,” said Dr. Hendrix. “With an increasing contingent of virtual participants joining us from around the world, we are excited about the way in which this annual program is establishing Pudue University as a leader in the global effort to address this top global health issue.” Next year’s Purdue AMR conference already is scheduled for February 25-26, 2026.