{"id":30438,"date":"2025-07-25T10:30:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T14:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/?p=30438"},"modified":"2025-07-25T10:30:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T14:30:19","slug":"pvr-s2025-third-antimicrobial-resistance-conference-brings-interdisciplinary-scholars-together-at-purdue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/pvr-s2025-third-antimicrobial-resistance-conference-brings-interdisciplinary-scholars-together-at-purdue.php","title":{"rendered":"Third Antimicrobial Resistance Conference Brings Interdisciplinary Scholars Together at Purdue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Attendance figures for Purdue University\u2019s third Antimicrobial Resistance Conference demonstrate increasing interest in the event\u2019s 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 at Purdue\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Dr.
Dr. Fiona Henriquez-Mui traveled from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, where she is professor of civil and environmental engineering, to give the second of three keynote lectures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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, \u201cThe Role of Amoebae in the Emergence of Bacterial Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment and Considerations for One Health,\u201d Dr. Henriquez-Mui shared her findings on how the interactions between Free-living amoebae and bacteria contribute to the survival and evolution of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. She was followed by three Purdue scholars: Dr. Elsje Pienaar, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Dr.
Dr. John Allen, head of Purdue\u2019s Department of Pharmacy Practice, speaks during a panel discussion on the 2nd<\/sup> day of the AMR Conference.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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, \u201cA Comprehensive Strategy to Mitigate AMR Informed by Omics-based Environmental Surveillance,\u201d 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\u2019s Department of Pharmacy Practice.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Michelle
Michelle Bush, a PhD student in biological sciences, discusses her research poster, which won second-place in the Poster Competition Graduate Student Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Undergraduate Division \u2013 First place: Shreyes Kanumuru<\/strong>, a Purdue biochemistry student, for his poster entitled \u201cThe In Vitro Activity of Repurposed Drugs Against Different Strains of Balamuthia mandrillaris.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Graduate Student Division \u2013 First-place: Carolyn Metcalfe<\/strong>, College of Pharmacy graduate student, for her poster, \u201cInvestigating in vivo Characteristics of Acetazolamide Derived Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors in Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci Infections and Their Effect on the Microbiome\u201d; Second-place: Michelle Bush<\/strong>, a PhD student in biological sciences, for her poster entitled, \u201cStructural insights into the dynamic interplay between BAM and Chaperones during OMP biogenesis in E. Coli.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n
    \"First-place
    First-place prize-winner in the Undergraduate Division of the Poster Contest, Purdue biochemistry student Shreyes Kanumuru with Dr. Sanjeev Narayanan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Department
    Dr. Narayanan honors Carolyn Metcalfe, a Purdue Pharmacy graduate student, who took first-place in the Graduate Student Division of the Poster Competition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Members
    Members of the AMR Conference Steering Committee with the three Keynote Speakers (left-right) Drs. Deepti Pillai, Tim Johnson, Amy Pruden-Bagchi, Devendra Shah, Fiona Henriquez-Mui, Kenitra Hendrix and Chris Rice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Planning already is underway for the fourth annual Purdue AMR conference. \u201cThis 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,\u201d said Dr. Hendrix. \u201cWith 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 Purdue University as a leader in the global effort to address this top global health issue.\u201d Next year’s Purdue AMR conference already is scheduled for February 25-26, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Attendance figures for Purdue University\u2019s third Antimicrobial Resistance Conference demonstrate increasing interest in the event\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,17,37,27],"tags":[87,918,1326,197,811],"class_list":["post-30438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diagnostic-laboratories","category-in-the-news","category-infectious-diseases-and-immunology","category-services","tag-addl","tag-antimicrobial-resistance","tag-conference","tag-learning","tag-pvm-report"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30438"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30744,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30438\/revisions\/30744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}