Makerere University represented by the College of Natural Sciences, Department of Zoology, Entomology and Fisheries Sciences (Assoc.Prof. Charles Masembe) together with 6 other universities won a 3 year Euros 1,500,000 research grant titled “DisPersal of Antibiotic Resistance and antibiotics in Water ecosystems and Influence on liveStock and aquatic wildlife” from the Aquatic Pollutants funding consortium (http://www.jpi-oceans.eu/calls/proposals/aquaticpollutants-joint-transnational-call-2020 ).
The other team members on the project include: National Veterinary Insitute (SVA); Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA); Linköping University (LiU); Estación Biológica de Doñana, – spain; National Research Institute for Rural Engineering, Water, and Forestry (INRGREF) – Tunisia and Faculty of medicine Ibn Al-Jazzar Sousse (FMS) – Tunisia.
The overall aim of is to provide insight into the dispersal of antibiotics, antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes-ARG downstream of wastewater treatment plants. By comparing different geographical/climatic regions, wastewater management practices and types of water bodies, they will investigate the potential influence that WWTPs have on occurrence of ARB and ARG in livestock downstream of the WWTPs.
By combining state-of-the-art phenotypic and molecular methodologies together with high-resolution telemetry data on animal movements, they will obtain ground-breaking knowledge about how different point-sources affect occurrence in aquatic birds, and the role birds play in transfer of pollutants between aquatic habitats, regionally and between countries and continents