In the United Kingdom, Campylobacter is the number one cause of food poisoning contributing to an estimated 500000 cases per annum. Patients are generally treated with antibiotics from the macrolide or quinolone classes. Due to the exploitation of antibiotics in humans and livestock populations, there is an explosion of antibiotic-resistant infections. Antibiotic-resistant strains of Campylobacter are clinically very difficult to treat as resistance towards the drugs of choice could have potentially debilitating consequences especially in the cases of immunocompromised patients. Being naturally transformable, acquiring additional genes imparting antibiotic resistance in C.jejuni becomes easier. Thus, studies to determine and understand the genes involved in antibiotic resistance and how they impart resistance in C.jejuni may help to develop proper therapy regimes in both the livestock and human populations. Consequently, deciphering the mechanism of antibiotic resistance is important to find unique patterns and mitigating strategies for controlling the advent of Campylobacter infections.
I have done an M.Tech in Biotechnology from D.Y.Patil University (2018). I was also working as a Research Intern in the Molecular Biology laboratory at National AIDS Research Institute (ICMR), India specifically on antimicrobial resistance in various drug classes and was also involved in an microbiome based study.