The latest generation of benchtop DNA sequencing platforms can provide an accurate whole genome sequence for a broad range of bacteria in less than a day. There are numerous potential applications for this technology in routine diagnostic and public health microbiology, but this talk will focus on opportunities relating to genomic surveillance of antimicrobial resistance and outbreak investigations. Barriers to implementation will also be discussed.

About the speaker

Sharon Peacock is Director of the Bloomsbury Research Institute and an Honorary Faculty Member at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Her research group focuses on the use of microbial whole genome sequencing in diagnostic and public health microbiology and its application to outbreak investigation and antimicrobial prescribing. They are also undertaking a series of genomic studies to identify reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance in healthcare facilities, farms, the food chain and the environment. She receives funding from the Medical Research Council through a UKCRC (UK Clinical Research Collaboration) Translational Infection Research Initiative Consortium Grant, and from the Department of Health and Wellcome Trust through a Health Innovation Challenge Fund Award. Professor Peacock is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2013) and the American Academy of Microbiology (2013), an elected Member of EMBO (2015), and received a CBE for services to medical microbiology in 2015.