PhD student Qingyue Zeng (first author of the paper) and undergraduate student Derek Konsen collecting soil cores in an amended plot at a local urban farm.
Dr. Ryan Blaustein's research team published a new paper evaluating the effects of compost and manure on antibiotic resistant bacteria in urban agricultural settings.
Although much has been done to protect the food chain from potential pathogens like Salmonella and Listeria that could be introduced by compost and manure, little is known about how those organic soil amendments affect antibiotic resistance in soil microbes. This study found that organic soil amendments could actually reduce the concentrations of antimicrobial resistance in urban farm settings.
You can read more about the study on our website:
Additional team members on this study included Drs. Rohan Tikekar, Shirley Micallef, and undergraduate students Kevin Lam and Autumn Salcedo.
