CEE SPECIAL SEMINAR: Amy Pickering: “Designing Scalable Strategies to Reduce Infectious Disease in Underserved Communities”

Abstract: Enteric infections, including antibiotic-resistant infections, disproportionately impact low-resource communities. Among all global deaths due to antibiotic resistant bacterial infections, 86% occur in low- and middle-income countries. Scalable prevention strategies are urgently needed. In this talk I will present field and lab studies that exploit new tools in molecular microbiology to identify zoonotic and environmental transmission pathways of enteric pathogens and antibiotic resistance. I will also discuss inline chlorination as an approach to reduce exposure to diarrheal and resistant pathogens by reducing the time and cost burden for accessing safe drinking water. Finally I will present work to design a novel chlorine dosing device and strategies to scale inline chlorination across diverse settings to serve the estimated 2 billion people globally using contaminated drinking water.

Bio: Dr. Amy J. Pickering is the Blum Center Distinguished Chair in Global Poverty and Practice, jointly appointed in Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Pickering received her B.S. from Cornell University, M.S. from the University of California, Berkeley, and Ph.D. from the E-IPER program at Stanford University. Dr. Pickering’s lab leverages advanced tools in molecular biology for environmental surveillance of infectious disease and antibiotic resistance. Her lab also designs and evaluates novel water and sanitation technologies, with a focus on scalable products that can raise the quality of service in underserved communities. Dr. Pickering’s research has influenced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) national guidelines on hand hygiene and on SARS-CoV-2 fomite transmission. She has received a Fulbright Fellowship, 2021 James J. Morgan Early Career Award by ES&T honorable mention, 2022 Best Paper Award at ES&T Letters, ACS Environmental Au 2023 Rising Star in Environmental Research, Hellman Fellow, the NSF CAREER Award, and is a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator.