The role of concentrated animal feeding operations in the spread of antibiotic resistance in California’s Central Valley: a community engaged pilot study
Amy Pickering, Professor
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Closed. This professor is continuing with Fall 2023 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Spring 2024.
Fecal waste from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) is a known reservoir of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and contaminants from these industrial cattle, poultry, and swine farms can pollute air, soil, and waterways. CAFO workers, their household members, and residents of high-density CAFO communities are at risk of livestock-associated bacterial and antibiotic-resistant infections. Evidence to date is largely focused on multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on hog and poultry farms. There is a need to characterize occupational and community health risks associated with concentrated cattle operations in the U.S., especially in California’s
Central Valley, a high-density CAFO regions with low-income, Latinx CAFO communities.
Our objective is to determine which zoonotic pathogens and types of antibiotic resistance are present in environmental exposure pathways, CAFO farmworkers, and residents in communities with versus without CAFOs in the Central Valley of California.
Role: assist with protocol development, sample collection, perform culture-based assays in the lab
Qualifications: microbiology knowledge, wet lab experience a plus, interest in environmental health and community-engaged research
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Heather Amato, Post-Doc
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Related website: http://pickering.berkeley.edu
Biological & Health Sciences Engineering, Design & Technologies