Project at HIAS
How Global Changes Affect the Spread of Antibiotic Resistance: A Multidisciplinary One-Health Approach to Protecting Health and the Environment
Chika Ejikeugwu’s research project at HIAS, titled “How Global Changes Affect the Spread of Antibiotic Resistance: A Multidisciplinary One-Health Approach to Protecting Health and the Environment,” focuses on the growing global threat of antibiotic resistance. The project examines how antibiotic use in human medicine, agriculture, and food production contributes to resistance and how global changes, including climate change, farming practices, land use, and water quality, influence its spread.
During the stay, he will use a One Health approach to connect human, animal, and environmental health. He will collaborate with experts from biology, agriculture, environmental studies, social sciences, and the humanities to develop practical approaches for reducing antibiotic misuse. A key outcome will be an educational tool designed to improve public understanding of antibiotic resistance and encourage responsible practices. The project aims to support public health, protect the environment, preserve the effectiveness of existing antibiotics, and contribute to sustainable strategies for addressing antimicrobial resistance globally.
His Tandem Partner is Holger Rohde, Specialist in Microbiology, Virology, and Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Universitätsklinikum Eppendorf/ University of Hamburg
Website
Funding
The HIAS Fellowship is provided by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the federal and state funds acquired by the University of Hamburg in the framework of its Excellence Strategy.
Tandem
Prof. Dr. med. Holger Rohde, Microbiology, Virology, and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)
Biography
Dr. Chika Ejikeugwu was an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellow at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany, from 2023 to 2026, where he investigated the effects of antibiotic mixtures on the soil microbiome and the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes. Prior to this, he was a Reader in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria, where he taught courses in pharmaceutical microbiology and biotechnology.
In 2021, Dr. Ejikeugwu was a DAAD Fellow at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin, Germany, where he investigated the combinatorial effects of biocides and antibiotics on mutant-resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In 2018, he was a Fellow of the Matsumae International Foundation, Japan, and conducted postdoctoral research at Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, focusing on HIV reservoir and cure research.
Chika Ejikeugwu‘s HIAS Fellowship is provided by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the federal and state funds acquired by the University of Hamburg in the framework of its Excellence Strategy.