Modernising resistance testing for an era of antimicrobial resistance

We seek to revolutionise high quality AMR testing in Public Health England (PHE) with cutting-edge new robotics for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). The improved data reproducibility will set a new international standard, better support patient management with faster and more accurate results, and improve the information gained via surveillance programs. This supports PHE’s priority of providing robust laboratory-based surveillance of AMR (one of the goals of the UK 5-year AMR strategy). A new rapid AST platform will be installed in two PHE labs to provide new dimensions to AST data from healthcare-associated, high containment and biothreat organisms. Triangulation of automated high quality AST, genetic (Whole Genome Sequence based) AST results and the new data dimensions (above) will build a peerless understanding and knowledge base of AMR and create a showcase, next-generation AMR pheno- and genotyping facility that will be unparalleled globally. It will be a new gold-standard in AST that will encourage further collaboration with PHE from the academic, public and industrial sectors and benefit the UK’s reputation as a world leader for AMR detection and surveillance.