Padilla, Project 4 Leader, Presents at the University of Rouen, France

From May 14th-27th, 2017, Dr. Ingrid Padilla, leader of PROTECT’s Project 4, was a visiting scholar at the University of Rouen located in Normandy, France. The objective of the visit was to establish collaborative work with leading hydrologists and microbiologists on karst and public health issues. Team members of the University of Rouen were particularly interested in establishing programs similar to those composing the PROTECT Center in France.

As part of her visit, Padilla gave a presentation titled “The PROTECT Longitudinal Study to Assess Relationships between Contamination, Exposure to Contaminant, and Reproductive Health in Karst Regions.” She spoke on this topic at the University of Rouen as well as at the Pierre Marie Curie University in Paris. At both universities, Padilla also discussed the potential role of karst environments and contaminants on the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, an issue of great concern for the European Union.

To follow up on her successful visit, Padilla hopes to begin collaborating with sampling, particularly of rock in matrixes where University leaders postulate antibiotic-resistant bacteria may be growing. PROTECT’s lab-scale limestone models can work as a template for their own lab-model development.