The expert visit from UCP (the Centre of Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry of Catholic Portugal University, Porto) was performed and led by prof. Célia Manaia and Dr. Ivone Vaz-Moreira. Due to the restrictions caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic this expert visit had to be organized on-line. The expert visit itself had two parts. The first part was an online lecture given by prof. Manaia, assigned to a broad audience from the academic and non-academic areas. The second part was an internal webinar of prof. Manaia and Dr. Vaz-Moreira with Ph.D. students at UCT Prague, investigating the topic of antibiotic resistance, and their supervisors and consultants.
The on-line lecture „Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment: Why it is important?“ covered the following topics:
- Some simple introductory concepts
- Antibiotic resistance as a human health problem
- Antibiotic resistance as an environmental contaminant
- (Waste)water treatment and antibiotic resistance
- Antibiotic residues and antibiotic resistance in European wastewaters
- Risks associated with antibiotic resistance.
The discussion after the lecture was very interesting and fruitful. Many participants also used the discussion or email for expressing their enthusiasm about this lecture as to be very interesting, inspiring, and complex. Generally, the lecture was evaluated very positively by the participants.
During the private webinar, that followed after the lecture, a Ph.D. student from UCT Prague presented their current research results and discussed their work and progress relating to antibiotic resistance with both experts. Ph.D. students got many new ideas and inspiration to be involved in their future research work and its development.