Published: 07 Feb 2018 | Last Updated: 07 Feb 2018 11:10:57

Dr Ludovic Pelligand has been awarded a research grant by Transpharm to work on "PK/PD-informed clinical breakpoint determination for colistin in chicken to limit emergence of resistance and improve One Health antimicrobial sustainability".

Colistin is an antibiotic used to treat enteritis in livestock but is a last resort drug to treat gram negative resistant bacteria in people. There is an urgent need to re-assess the optimum dosage to preserve efficacy and limit the contribution of veterinary treatment to resistance across species. The project integrates: -             

(i)   the time-course of intestinal colistin concentration in chicken treated with clinical or subclinical dose (mass spectrometry measurement from in vivo samples)   

(ii) the effect on pathogens (static time-kill curves and ex vivo enumeration and susceptibility testing of E. coli)           

(iii) the effect on commensal gut flora (metagenomic 16S profiling)