Novel Strategies to Detect and Mitigate the Emergence of AMR in Zoonotic Pathogens

抗微生物药物耐药性（AMR）是21世纪科学面临的最严峻挑战之一。几十年来，我们受益于广泛使用抗生素治疗各种疾病的药物，青霉素成为公众意识方面最知名的药物之一。然而，由于病原体的自然进化，并因过度使用抗菌药物而加速，目前对此类干预措施的治疗效果正在降低。事实上，对抗菌素药物完全耐药的病原体的出现，虽然有限，但正在成为一个日益增加的趋势。作为这一严重影响和威胁的直接结果，英国已经向研究人员建立了一个为期5年的抗菌素耐药性挑战，以解决这些问题，并在国际上反映出来。在考虑抗菌素耐药性问题时，重要的是也要认识到并处理牲畜中出现抗菌素耐药性对人类健康造成的风险。在这种情况下，抗生素的使用也很普遍，正如在人类病原体中看到的那样，抗生素耐药性的出现正在发生。考虑到食物链以及废物处理和径流等环境因素，这可能为AMR病原体从动物转移到人类提供一条途径。许多关于抗菌素耐药性及其出现的研究自然是由生命科学领域的研究人员进行的。然而，工程和物理科学（EPS）的研究人员多年来通过开发新的表征工具，先进的数学建模技术，以及通过开发越来越智能的传感器，为生命和医学科学的发展做出了巨大贡献，仅举几个例子。因此，有很大的空间让EPS研究人员直接参与解决AMR挑战，以加速新技术和工具的开发，以识别和解决问题。这个项目将创造一个空间，我们将把来自EPS社区的研究人员，包括他们领域的许多领导者，与那些直接应对生命科学中AMR研究挑战的人聚集在一起。我们将通过在萨里大学建立一个促进跨学科研究的合作中心（CHAIR）来实现这一目标。该主席将设在新成立的兽医学院，为来自大学内EPS部门的研究人员提供一个中立的空间。为了支持和促进专注于解决抗菌素耐药性挑战的合作，我们将举办一系列综合研讨会、讲习班和网络活动，这些活动将导致研究人员提出短期合作项目的“沙坑”。成功的项目将有资格申请获得进一步的资助，目的是向资助机构提交有关抗菌素耐药性挑战的完整研究提案。我们亦会为短期项目提供研究时间上的支援，为短期任务提供资助，以支持研究人员互动和信息交流，以及建立网络。将与大学的研究人员发展计划合作，提供一系列研究人员发展和培训活动。我们还将与一些战略合作伙伴密切合作，包括Defra动植物卫生机构、兽医局（VMD）、国家物理实验室（NPL）、皇家萨里县医院，以及国际上的北卡罗莱纳州立大学（美国）（包括支持短期访问预约）和圣保罗大学（巴西）。这将大大扩大我们将支持的活动的潜在影响，并为更广泛的合作提供新的机会。

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most critical challenges facing science in the 21st century. For decades we have benefited from the widespread availability of drugs to treat a variety of conditions using antibiotics with penicillin becoming one of the most recognizable drugs in terms of public awareness. However, through the natural evolution of pathogens, accelerated by the over-use of antimicrobial drugs, the effectiveness of current treatments to such interventions is reducing. Indeed the emergence of pathogens which are fully resistant to antimicrobial drugs, though limited, is becoming an increasing trend. As a direct result of the serious implications and threats this poses the UK has established a 5-year AMR challenge to researchers, mirrored internationally, to address these issues.In considering AMR it is important that the risk to human health from the emergence of AMR in livestock is also recognized and addressed. The use of antibiotics in this context is also widespread, and the emergence of AMR is occurring as seen in human pathogens. Given the food chain, and environmental factors such as waste treatment and run-off, there is significant risk that this may offer a pathway for the translation of AMR pathogens from animals into humans.Much of the study into AMR and its emergence has naturally been undertaken by researchers within the life sciences. However, researchers within the engineering and physical sciences (EPS) have for many years contributed strongly to the development of life and medical sciences through the development of new characterization tools, advanced mathematical modelling techniques, and through the development of increasingly smart sensors to give a few examples. There is therefore significant scope for engaging EPS researchers directly with addressing the AMR challenges with the aim of accelerating the development of new techniques and tools for identifying and addressing the problem.This project will create a space in which we will bring together researchers from the EPS community, including many leaders of their field, with those directly tackling AMR research challenges in the life sciences. We will do this through the creation of a Collaborative Hub for Advancing Interdisciplinary Research (CHAIR) at the University of Surrey. This CHAIR will be based in the newly established School of Veterinary Medicine, providing a neutral space to engage with researchers from across the EPS Departments within the University. To support and facilitate collaborations focused on addressing the AMR challenges we will run a series of integrated seminars, workshops and networking events which will lead to 'sandpits' at which researchers will work to propose short collaborative projects. Successful projects will then be eligible to apply to receive further funding with the aim of generating full research proposal submissions to funding bodies on the AMR challenges. We will also provide support in terms of research time to short projects, funds for short-term missions to support researcher interaction and information exchange, and network formation. A series of researcher development and training activities will be offered in collaboration with the University's Researcher Development Programme. We will also closely engage with a number of strategic partners including the Defra Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), The Royal Surrey County Hospital, and internationally at North Carolina State University (USA) including supporting a short-term visiting appointment, and Universidad Sao Paulo (Brazil). This will significantly extend the potential impact of the activities we will support and provide new opportunities for wider collaboration.