Seminar on Bacteria feeding on antibiotics – eating the poisonous

It was an eventful Friday afternoon on 16 June 2023 with a Seminar given by Professor Philippe Corvini from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern, Switzerland. He shared the topic on “Bacteria feeding on antibiotics – eating the poisonous” and captivated the audience with his profound knowledge.

His research team has successfully isolated resistant bacterial strains found in wastewater treatment plants containing major bactericidal micropollutants such as sulphonamide antibiotics (SMX). SMX is the second most used antibiotics worldwide in human and veterinary medicine. The strains isolated by his research team was demonstrated to degrade and mineralise the SMX. In his presentation, he revealed the in-depth mechanisms of SMX degradation by the Microbacterium sp. strain BR1, one of the strains isolated in the study. This strain was able to feed on SMX as sole carbon and energy source. The findings could aid in the wastewater treatment process optimisation to control the release of bactericidal micropollutants entering the environment.

NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI) extends appreciation to Prof Corvini for the interesting sharing session and Prof Karina Gin for chairing the Seminar.