Eco-Friendly Solution for Antibiotic Removal from Wastewater: A Strategy to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance

Join ARU's Medical Technology Research Centre (MTRC) online for a seminar from Dr Mouhamad Khoder on tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most pressing global healthcare challenges. If no action is taken by 2050, antimicrobial resistance could lead to 10 million deaths annually and up to $1 trillion in additional healthcare costs.

The presence of antibiotic residues in environmental ecosystems significantly accelerate the selection of resistant bacterial strains and the emergence of novel AMR phenotypes. Dr Khoder's research group has developed metal-alginate based systems for the selective removal of antibiotic traces from wastewater.

Produced by eco-friendly and scalable methods, metal-alginate particles exhibited exceptional antibiotic removal capacity, particularly for fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines, with excellent stability and regeneration capacity in challenging sewage environments. A vertical filtration column incorporating metal-alginate particles effectively removed ciprofloxacin traces from sewage water samples collected from multiple sites across the UK and Turkey.

This scalable and eco-friendly solution presents a significant advancement in wastewater management, hence contributing to ongoing efforts to combat AMR.

Speaker biography

Dr Mouhamad Khoder is an established academic with significant contributions to both teaching and research. A Pharmacy graduate from the University of Aleppo, Syria (2001) and a registered pharmacist in Syria, Mouhamad completed his Master’s degree at the University of Paris-Sud, France, in 2006, followed by a PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy from the same university in 2010.

Dr Khoder was appointed In 2011 as a Lecturer of Pharmaceutics at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Homs, Syria. He later joined Kingston University in 2015, where he currently holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Clinical Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy. He has made notable contributions to pharmaceutical research, particularly in combating antimicrobial resistance, as well as in advancing drug delivery and tissue engineering systems.

His current research team includes a British Council-funded (ISPF) research fellow and five PhD students working on a range of projects addressing environmental challenges and disease treatments.

For more information, email [email protected]