Food Safety, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Microbial Surveillance

Foodborne and clinical pathogens remain major challenges for public health, animal health, and food safety. Inadequate hygiene during food processing, handling, and storage can facilitate the transmission of zoonotic pathogens, while animal-derived foods such as fish, broiler meat, and dairy may act as reservoirs and vehicles for these microbes. At the same time, the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has made the prevention and treatment of foodborne and zoonotic infections increasingly difficult.

At HOPE Lab, we study these problems through a One Health lens, recognizing that human, animal, and environmental health are deeply interconnected. Our research focuses on pathogen prevalence, pathogenesis, resistance patterns, and transmission pathways, with particular attention to foodborne and clinical pathogens that affect both community and hospital settings.

Pathogens in Focus

Our work includes the study of important foodborne and clinical pathogens such as Staphylococci, Salmonella, and Shigella, as well as multidrug-resistant organisms associated with hospital- and community-acquired infections. These pathogens are important not only because of the diseases they cause, but also because of the way they move between food systems, animals, and humans.

We are especially interested in the microbiological and molecular features that support pathogen survival, spread, and resistance. In our earlier work, we analyzed Salmonella recovered from broiler operations in Bangladesh and found notable prevalence and AMR phenotypes, highlighting poultry-related food chains as a potential source of exposure to multidrug-resistant strains.

Antimicrobial Resistance as a One Health Challenge

AMR is one of the most urgent issues in modern infectious disease control. The overuse and misuse of antibiotics in both human healthcare and animal husbandry accelerate the spread of resistance, and resistance genes can move across microbial populations by horizontal gene transfer. For this reason, controlling foodborne and clinical pathogens requires more than conventional hygiene alone; it requires coordinated surveillance, molecular analysis, and sustainable intervention strategies.

HOPE Lab’s Approach

We use microbiological, epidemiological, and molecular approaches to better understand how pathogens emerge, persist, and spread. Our work includes pathogen isolation, resistance profiling, and the study of host–microbe interactions in food, clinical, and environmental contexts. By combining laboratory-based analysis with a One Health perspective, we aim to generate actionable knowledge for pathogen monitoring and control.

Sustainable Alternatives for Pathogen Control

Alongside pathogen surveillance, we explore beneficial microbes as sustainable alternatives to antibiotics. Probiotics offer promising antimicrobial and immunomodulatory properties, and our broader research on probiotic lactic acid bacteria supports their potential use in reducing pathogen burden, improving food safety, and strengthening biological resilience across systems.

Toward Safer Food Systems and Healthier Communities

The One Health approach to controlling foodborne and clinical pathogens brings together food safety, microbiology, AMR, and public health. At HOPE Lab, we aim to contribute to this effort by improving pathogen detection, understanding transmission dynamics, and identifying safer, more sustainable ways to protect human and animal health while supporting environmental stewardship.