The AMR Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has awarded top prizes to a student and staff member for their research on antimicrobial resistance.

Gladys Maria Pangga won the 2025 Student AMR Centre Publication Prize in recognition of her research on gut health intervention strategies in poultry. Her study, published in Microbiome, showed that reliance on ionophores led to changes in microbial diversity and metabolism. This work provides valuable insights into sustainable poultry production and approaches to mitigate AMR

The Staff Prize went to Zoe Dyson, Assistant Professor at LSHTM, for her study published in The Lancet Microbe, which showed that the majority of antimicrobial-resistant typhoid infections in Bangladesh, Nepal and Malawi are due to the sustained transmission of locally established resistant strains, rather than the introduction or emergence of new resistant variants.

The publication prizes are awarded by the AMR Centre each year to one LSHTM staff member and one research degree student for research into antimicrobial resistance (AMR) published in the previous year (2024). The papers are judged by a panel from our management committee, with criteria focused on the applicant’s authorship role, scientific excellence and impact in the field of AMR, and the recipients are each awarded £500.

Ms Pangga, a third year PhD student at LSHTM, is working on several poultry gut microbiome projects in collaboration with Pilgrim's Europe Ltd (Research & Development Team). Her focus is on using bioinformatics, veterinary epidemiology, and microbiology to control zoonotic pathogens in food animals, aiming to improve animal health, food safety, and public health.

She said: “I am deeply grateful for this recognition. After navigating numerous challenges, it is incredibly encouraging to see my research acknowledged as important and valuable. I hope that my work on the poultry gut microbiome and antimicrobial resistance will not only benefit the poultry industry but also contribute to evidence-based regulations on the use of antimicrobials and other supplements. 

“This award highlights the significance of collaborative efforts, and I look forward to continuing this journey with my network of colleagues to address critical issues in animal and public health.”

Dr Zoe Dyson specialises in bacterial pathogen genomics, particularly focusing on Salmonella Typhi and Paratyphi A. Her work integrates laboratory microbiology with computational biology to study transmission dynamics and antimicrobial resistance.

She serves as an editor for the American Society for Microbiology journal mSystems and holds the position of Co-Deputy Director at LSHTM’s Centre for Data and Statistical Science for Health (DASH).

Dr Dyson said: “I’m grateful to receive this award and recognition on behalf of the hard work of the Strategic Typhoid alliance across Africa and Asia (STRATAA) study group. I hope our work helps support efforts to control drug-resistant typhoid in endemic settings.”

Dr Gwen Knight, Co-Director of the AMR Centre, said: “Congratulations to Gladys and Zoe! Their outstanding research papers will undoubtedly contribute significantly to the field of AMR research. 

This year brought another strong set of entries, and we’re proud to celebrate another pair of exceptional winners. Thank you to everyone who submitted their work. It was truly inspiring to see such a wide range of high-quality research from across the AMR Centre community.” 

Ms Pangga and Dr Dyson will be presenting their work at the  AMR connect event on Tuesday 13 May 2025.