Dr. Sanjay Pal, Associate Professor, Sanitation Biotechnology Lab, School of Biotechnology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus, was invited to present a talk titled, “Complementary Approaches to Combat Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria” at the Indo-UK Conference on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases, held at Inter University Centre for Biomedical Research and Super Speciality Hospital (IUCBR & SSH), Kottayam, Kerala, from February 25-26, 2019.

In his talk, Dr. Pal highlighted the major drivers of the rise of antimicrobial resistance, particularly the “factory farms” (dairy/aquaculture/poultry). He emphasized that traditional, large,  centralized effluent/sewage treatment plants (ETP/STP) are proving to be the breeding ground for antibiotic resistant bacteria, and hence, a decentralized sanitation system is most appropriate for both developed and developing nations. He showcased Amrita Sanitation Lab’s research projects on application of bacteriophages and other biocontrol strategies in different contexts of sanitation to address antimicrobial resistance in bacterial population in the environment.