Submitted by Administrator on Fri, 03/08/2018 - 08:38
25 Jun2018 - Dr Andrew Grant, from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, is part of the Quadram Institute’s strategic research programme Microbes in the Food Chain.
Dr Andrew Grant, from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, is part of the Quadram Institute’s strategic research programme Microbes in the Food Chain. Supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) part of UK Research and Innovation. This programme aims to generate critical data, exploit state-of-the-art technology and develop novel interventions to reduce the risk of foodborne illness and the spread of antimicrobial resistance in the food chain.Research themes within the programme (epidemiology and evolution of pathogens in the food chain; microbial survival strategies used by pathogens to survive and grow; understanding microbial communities) support the Quadram Institute’s mission to understand how food and the gut microbiota are linked to the promotion of health and the prevention of diet and age-associated disease.
The Quadram Institute is helping to tackle challenges to food safety by studying how microbes evolve, spread, survive and compete in the food chain, and using the knowledge we gain to develop new ways of intervening to reduce the burden of foodborne illness and safely develop novel foods
The global burden of foodborne illness is massive, causing an estimated 420,000 deaths and 600 million cases of illness each year, according to the latest estimate by the World Health Organisation. Although 40% of cases are in young children, and the problem is most severe in low-income countries, food safety affects people of all ages and nationalities. In the UK, the Food Standards Agency estimates over a million people suffer a foodborne illness each year costing the economy over £1.5 billion.
The Quadram Institute is helping to tackle this problem by studying how microbes evolve, spread, survive and compete in the food chain. We use the knowledge we gain to develop new ways of intervening to reduce the burden of foodborne illness, and in the safe development of novel foods.
Within the Quadram Institute, the expertise and experience of many academics and industry reserachers has been coupled to work with the key bacteria of concern to food safety, coupled with genomics, metagenomics and bioinformatics excellence. This interdisciplinary approach is allowing us to get the fullest understanding yet of foodborne pathogenic bacteria across the entire food chain.