Project Summary/Abstract
Monitoring antimicrobial resistance among veterinary pathogens at Iowa State University
Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory: A Vet-LIRN AMR Surveillance Project
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major health threat affecting the well-being of humans,
animals, and the environment worldwide. In the United States, Veterinary Laboratory
Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN) under the Food and Drug Administration,
Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA-CVM) performs surveillance of AMR in select veterinary
bacterial pathogens (e.g., Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius)
from animals by partnering with diagnostic laboratories throughout North America. Under the
initiative, Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (ISU VDL) became a Vet-
LIRN source laboratory and has participated the AMR surveillance program from the very
beginning since 2017. The FDA Vet-LIRN program supports the network laboratories via
cooperative agreements for research and surveillance for supplies, equipment, personnel and
other related activities that are needed to expand laboratories’ capability and capacity. As part of
this project, the ISU VDL collects bacterial isolates and sends them to a Genome Sequencing
laboratory in another location. In this application, we propose to continue the collaborative
partnership with Vet-LIRN to address the dynamic goals of the AMR Surveillance Program as
partly described in FOA PAR-18-604 “Vet-LIRN Network Capacity-Building Projects”.
Specifically, as a source laboratory, we will continue to isolate and identify bacterial pathogens
of interests at ISU VDL, perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and share the isolates and
antimicrobial susceptibility testing result with Vet-LIRN network on a quarterly basis following
the Vet-LIRN protocol. We strongly believe that the ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has
substantially contributed to the capacity and effectiveness of the AMR surveillance project in
veterinary pathogens over the past years, and would like to continue our existing partnership
with the FDA Vet-LIRN in order to help the nationwide/global effort on combatting
antimicrobial resistance in veterinary settings.
