On 9 July, Jesse Kerkvliet completed his PhD and successfully defended his thesis ‘Antimicrobial resistance on the move: Computational methods to identify and reconstruct mobile genetic elements contributing to AMR dissemination’.

In his research at UMC Utrecht he focused on whole genome sequencing as well as metagenomics approaches, and presented several software methods that he designed that were able to recognize and reconstruct plasmid fragments that contribute to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In addition, he investigated the effect of two different coccidiosis prevention interventions in chickens on the resistome and presented, putatively mobile, AMR genes.

• Read more in the UMC Utrecht news item Software recognizes and reconstructs genes that contribute to antimicrobial resistance.
• More about this project: Gene flow networks in animals, the food chain and the environment.
• Link to the thesis: Antimicrobial resistance on the move: Computational methods to identify and reconstruct mobile genetic elements contributing to AMR dissemination.