1:00pm, Monday, 6 March
Room BIG13, Ground Floor
Biochemistry Building
710 Cumberland St
Professor Greg Cook
MSc(Hons), DPhil, FRSNZ
Sesquicentennial Distinguished Professor
Microbiology & Immunology, University of Otago
‘Generation of New Anti-Infectives for Agritech Applications: an update’
New Zealand Agriculture practices are facing increasing pressure to reduce both their environmental footprint and the use of antimicrobials in food production. Agriculturally-derived wastes that impact on our environment include dissolved inorganic nitrogen and animal faecal matter in our waterways, and almost half of the greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand are due to the agricultural sector. As intensive farming increases, and cow herd sizes grow, infectious diseases such as mastitis increase with the need for more antimicrobial usage. New innovative strategies are required to manage the environmental impact of farming and the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. In this seminar I will provide an update on our programmes aimed at controlling greenhouse gas emissions (nitric oxide, methane) and the prevention of mastitis in New Zealand dairy herds.
