Residential homes provide essential care for older people who are no longer able to live independently. However, the residents within such facilities are oftentimes at risk from outbreaks of infectious disease. Moreover, as antibiotics are commonly (over)-used within care home facilities, the acquisition and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is also a concern. Understanding the routes of pathogen transmission, the location of any “hotpsots” of infection and both the type and levels of AMR present within such facilities could play a key role in controlling pathogen spread, whilst also helping inform clinical managers as to the measures needed to mitigate against that spread.
Although the detection and monitoring of pathogens on surfaces and in both clinical and wastewater samples is relatively well advanced, there remains a need to develop better methodologies for community pathogen monitoring within air. Research at QUB has successfully demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 can be detected within hospital air, and that the sequencing of such samples can identify those variants of SARS-CoV-2 present. We now wish to expand our air microbiome research to investigate if other pathogens, and their AMR profiles, can be similarly detected within the care home environment.
The aims of this project are thus threefold: 1) Develop protocols - both culture and molecular (qPCR and metagenomics) based - for airborne pathogen detection using automated air samplers; 2) Assess the potential of air sampling as a tool to detect airborne pathogens (bacterial, fungal and viral) within the care home setting; and 3) Investigate the prevalence of AMR using both phenotypic and genotypic analysis.
The studentship will provide training in state-of-the-art molecular microbiology techniques, with the successful student joining a team of academics from across Queen’s University Belfast and at the University of Glasgow focused on pathogen biology. By improving our ability to detect airborne pathogens alongside increasing our understanding of air-associated routes of infection and AMR, this project will ultimately lead to improvements in infection control measures within the care home environment and beyond.
Specific skills/experience required: Background in microbiology, biochemistry, pharmacy, biomedical science or related discipline.
Start Date: 1 October 2023
Duration: 3 years
How to apply: Applications must be submitted online via: https://dap.qub.ac.uk/portal/user/u_login.php
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