By Marie Ducrotoy, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Infection and Pathway Medicine
The third day of the anti-microbial Autumn School was also European Antibiotic Awareness Day.
Apt then that the day focused on the need for the students to be aware of AMR diagnostics within a wider context.
A number of experts took the time to speak to the assembled group of Indian and UK students.
Prof Wilson Poon from the School of Physics and Astronomy discussed the recommended minimum dose of antibiotic to use in the face of infection.
Dr Jack Scannell from the School of Social and Political Science gave a sociologists view of why good diagnostics fail and emphasised the importance of budget and logistical structures in health systems.
Dr Kate Templeton from NHS Lothian talked about her work at the microbiology lab at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, demonstrating the revolutionary way that routine diagnostics take place, using alternatives to traditional microbial identification.
Dr Sarah Walmsley and Dr Deepankar Datta from Clinical Sciences presented their respective work on hypoxia and sepsis prediction.
Antonio Liga from Heriot Watt University demonstrated his blood plasma separation chamber prototype and Dr Kev Dhaliwal from the Centre for Inflammation Research talked about his quest to develop and implement new imaging technologies to ‘light up the lung’, allowing doctors to diagnosing disease more accurately.
The day was concluded with an Edinburgh AMR Forum (EAMRF) Seminar. The seminar series, organised by Dr Till Bachmann, is a monthly platform to enable discussion between Edinburgh researchers with an interest in AMR.
These talks were food for thought for the students, and they headed back to the hotel inspired and motivated to work on their projects.