Huber Molecular Epidemiology Research Laboratory
Dr. Laura Huber’s research lab in the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Pathiobiology, focuses on understanding contributions of the animal-human-environment interactions on the spread and maintenance of antimicrobial resistance with an overarching objective of understanding transmission dynamics to inform policy to mitigate antimicrobial resistance and protect human and animal health.
Main Projects
- The impact of antimicrobial use in poultry production and persistence of multidrug-resistant pathogens in the environment of farms in Alabama, US.
- The impact of antimicrobial use in the persistence of resistant-Rhodococcus equi in horse breeding farms in Kentucky, US.
- Time trends of antimicrobial use and resistance in food-production animals (pigs, chickens, and turkeys) in Canada.
- Transmission pathways of antimicrobial resistance in farm settings
- Impacts of agricultural practices on honey-bee health
Team
Laura Huber is a veterinarian epidemiologist, board certified in the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, working at Auburn University as an assistant professor. She obtained the DVM at UFSM (Brazil), a master’s in science at UFRGS (Brazil), a PhD at University of Georgia (US) and completed a postdoc at ETH Zurich (Switzerland).
Alinne Santana-Pereira is a microbiologist focused on soil metagenomics methods for applied and environmental microbiology. She focuses on tracking AMR transmission in farm settings and the impact of antimicrobial use on the microbiome of the farm environment
Pankaj Gaonkar is a veterinarian currently working in his PhD, and primarily interested in the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance in poultry production.
Kiranmayee Bhimavarapu is a veterinarian currently working on her PhD. She focuses on the impact of farm practices on honey-bee health
Courtney Higgins is currently working on her master’s degree, and primarily interested in the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance in horse-breeding farms.