New project to tackle Bovine Mastitis and reduce Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)

A research project to tackle bovine mastitis and reduce the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics in dairy cattle – the widescale use of which can contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – is being launched by the Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) at Queen’s University Belfast in partnership with AgriSearch and the Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI).

The new approach will involve the use of mass spectrometry – an analytical method using sophisticated laboratory equipment – to develop a rapid diagnosis of mastitis, directly from a suspected milk sample. This will initially use laboratory-based equipment but could potentially be translated to an on-site test to further increase test turnaround times.