EAR LTC-Sarea-ENLIGHT Congress “Strengthening Antibiotic Resistance Networks”

In order to strengthen and expand the collaboration between the different research groups in the field of antibiotic resistance in the environment in the Euroregion New Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarre, as well as within the European alliance ENLIGHT, the first international congress on antibiotic resistance was held in Bordeaux, on November 27th and 28th.

The JLR-EAR (Joint Lab Research) led by Dr. Itziar Alkorta from the Conju-RA (Molecular Strategies to control the spread of Antibiotic Resistance) research group created in 2018 to provide holistic solutions to the problem of antibiotic resistance. The main objective of this initiative was to create a multidisciplinary network of research groups studying the problem of antibiotic resistance from different perspectives and scientific disciplines.

In 2022 thanks to the LTC Sarea program, co-funded by the Department of Education of the Basque Government, the creation of the LTC Sarea incubator EAR was approved, offering new opportunities for collaboration between groups from the UPV/EHU (led by Dr. Alkorta) and the University of Bordeaux (led by Dr. Budzinski).

In addition, they have recently obtained a grant within the ENLIGHT project to involve the Uppsala Antibiotic Center (coordinated by Dr. Eva Garmendia) in this initiative.

The main objective of the congress was to strengthen this international network, sharing projects and weaving emerging collaborations.During the first day of the congress, the research lines of the different groups of the JRL-EAR, the University of Bordeaux and the University of Uppsala were presented. In this way, complementary lines of research could be identified for the subsequent preparation of proposals in different calls for proposals.

The afternoon continued with four master classes given by the leaders of the 3 main lines: dissemination of antibiotic resistance (UPV/EHU), chemical contamination of water and antibiotic resistance (University of Bordeaux), and finally the business and economics of antibiotic resistance (University of Uppsala). The last part of the day was dedicated to the doctoral and postdoctoral students of the research groups who briefly and relaxed presented their research projects with the help of scientific posters.

The second day was dedicated to the consolidation and support of the network itself. First, the different European funding opportunities (ENLIGHT and Horizon Europe) that could be suitable for submitting joint proposals were presented. Next, a workshop was held on scientific communication where, after some guidelines given by Dr. Eva Garmendia, the participants worked on their communication skills, which is one of the main tools of scientists. Finally, Jordi Campas from Euskampus Fundazioa developed the topic of transdisciplinary research in a very inspiring conference taking into account the main objective of this congress, to strengthen scientific collaboration between the research groups of the three universities.

The congress concluded with the presence and words of the Vice President for Research of the University of Bordeaux, Nathalie Sans, who on her behalf of the Vice Rector for Research of the UPV/EHU, Inma Arostegui, expressed her satisfaction for the celebration of this initiative at the University of Bordeaux, encouraging all the attendees to continue in this line of international collaboration.