A/ProfMehrad Hamidian

Mehrad's research interests are broadly focused on mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative pathogens that are relevant to Public Health. His research involves exploring bacterial genomes to find novel insertion sequences (IS), transposons, integrons, and genomic islands to help explain how complex antibiotic resistance islands have been crafted leading to multiply-antibiotic resistance phenotypes.

His general interests include examining genomic diversity, clonality, and epidemiology of Acinetobacter baumannii, which is a nosocomial microorganism that causes a range of infections. This organism has now become a global threat due to the development of high levels of antibiotic resistance. He is also interested in studying biofilm formation in A. baumannii, which is one of the main factors that makes this microorganism resistant to extreme environmental conditions, e.g. desiccation, allowing it to survive in hospital environments for a very long time.