I Care Conference and Antimicrobial Resistance

The global issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses an existential crisis that is predicted to equal or surpass the threats of climate change and COVID-19 in the coming decades. As a scientific community, a unified and multidisciplinary approach is required to address these concerns that places humanity in a perilous predicament.

Yuji shares his insights and experience below.

Over nine days in October of 2022, the 6^th instalment of the Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance (ICARe) was held at Les Pensières Center for Global Health in the city of Annecy, France. The course featured many leading experts covering wide fields of research – from biochemistry, microbiology, pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, epidemiology, bio- and chemo-informatics – as well as representing viewpoints from both academic and industrial sectors. Each leading expert (or “Faculty”) in their field gave a seminar that provided key background to a specific area of research in a deep-dive lecture, and crucially the course emphasised for the participants (or “Students”) to ask questions and discuss the ideas presented in both a formally structured manner by way of organised panel discussions, as well as in a loose format through disorganised break periods whereby the experts were encouraged to stay on for at least a couple of days surrounding their scheduled seminars. In this way, students and faculty alike were provided the opportunity to have an even playing field to learn from other experts outside of their own discipline.

For me, ICARe provided the perfect opportunity to learn, understand and appreciate the ideas and concepts that drive AMR research. With mainly synthetic chemistry background I had apprehensions of being too far out of my depth for most of the biological areas, however I gained greater knowledge about the fundamental theories behind these field of research and came away with both the experience of engaging with out-of-discipline researchers, along with the language that poises me in nurturing these collaborations. The interdisciplinarity emphasised by ICARe allowed me to appreciate topics such as the cell wall and the ribosome in ways that I never imagined in my years trained as a chemist.

Beyond the broad range of topics offered by ICARe, the course also focussed on the global nature of the problem and made efforts to represent diverse nationality in both the faculty as well as the students. In this manner, I was able to connect with other researchers in Australia, such as a representative from a biotech startup in Perth, as well as faculty members from the University of Queensland and Flinders University. To me, it was comforting to see that the Global South had representation in the discussion of AMR. Beyond these local connections, I also found other Students that attended with a stronger chemistry training that came from diverse European and American backgrounds that I would not have otherwise had the opportunity to meet. And lastly, due to the loose collegial atmosphere nurtured by the course, I was able to engage with professors and other leading experts over casual lunch and dinner conversations that are usually not possible in regular conference settings. In this way, I enjoyed having discussions with figures such as Professor Steven Projan (formally head of infectious diseases at Novartis), and Professor Robin Patel (former president of the American Society of Microbiology, and director of infectious disease research at the Mayo Clinic).

I am grateful of the Monash-Warwick Alliance for generous funding to allow me to attend the 6^th instalment of ICARe. The AMR initiative as part of MWA presents a unique opportunity to contribute to the global and multidisciplinary problem that is antimicrobial resistance. While a daunting task, the final emphasis at ICARe was that of hope – that current and future scientists with burning passion may, with Herculean effort, overcome that which at present appears a Sisyphean undertaking.