A multi-drug resistant pathogen reference strain and clinical isolate collection

A multi-drug resistant pathogen reference strain and clinical isolate collection representative of pathogens and resistance mechanisms directly aligned to the PACE first funding call that can be used by the provider to generate antimicrobial susceptibility data across PACE-funded projects and that can be made available to PACE awardees for onward project progression.

Continued expansion and characterisation of the strain and isolate collection to ensure it remains reflective of contemporary and genomically diverse multi-drug resistant and epidemic lineages of target pathogens (~20-30 strains) across E. coli, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, A. baumannii and S. aureus. This expanded collection will be made available for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) across PACE-funded projects and the wider AMR community.

The UKHSA are well positioned to provide the services required by PACE for PACE portfolio funded projects and the wider AMR community. This will include but not be limited to the following:

AST against a well characterised (including phenotypically, whole-genome sequenced with full antibiogram data) set of isolates and strains directly relevant to the PACE funding call, and;

AST data delivered according to industry standards, and;

Provided in an open-access environment, enabling PACE awardees to directly learn from and access the lab capability provided for onward studies, and;

An opportunity to transfer specific isolates to PACE awardee labs for onward studies, and;

The isolate bank will be evolved using the latest surveillance and national reference laboratory data on clinical isolates currently circulating nationally and internationally, and;

UKHSA AMR labs then enable rapid characterisation of new isolates including full antibiogram and whole genome sequencing, and;

A service model that can account for diverse needs of the PACE-funded projects as they arise i.e. variations to SOPs as required and ability to provide rapid surge capacity as and when needed.