Rate My Professor Sam Abraham

Professor Sam Abraham is Professor of Microbiology in the School of Medical, Molecular and Forensic Sciences at Murdoch University. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Mahatma Gandhi University, awarded between 2003 and 2006. Abraham joined Murdoch University in 2015 as an academic lecturer in microbiology and has since advanced to his current professorial role. He serves as Director of the Centre for Biosecurity and One Health within the Harry Butler Institute and is the Founder and Director of the Antimicrobial Resistance and Infectious Diseases (AMRID) Laboratory. His research centers on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), zoonotic pathogens, microbiology, robotics, genomics, and One Health approaches at the human-animal interface. Abraham has pioneered the Robotic Antimicrobial Susceptibility Platform (RASP), a next-generation system for high-throughput AMR surveillance that outperforms traditional methods in speed, cost, and accuracy, as validated per CLSI and ISO standards. This innovation, detailed in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (2021), enables rapid detection of resistances in pathogens like Escherichia coli.

Abraham's scholarly contributions include highly cited publications such as 'Antimicrobial-resistant CC17 Enterococcus faecium: The past, the present and the future' (2019, 238 citations), 'Antimicrobial resistance in clinical Escherichia coli isolated from companion animals in Australia' (2017, 140 citations), 'First detection of extended-spectrum cephalosporin- and fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli in Australian food-producing animals' (2015, 134 citations), 'Global burden of lumpy skin disease, outbreaks, and future challenges' (2023, 122 citations), and 'Carbapenemase-producing bacteria in companion animals: a public health concern on the horizon' (2014, 122 citations). He has secured significant research funding, including up to $945,834 from the WA Future Health Research and Innovation Fund in 2023 for tackling AMR at the human-animal interface and ARC Linkage Equipment grants. Abraham leads initiatives like Australia's first national survey of AMR bacteria in retail meat commodities (poultry, pork, beef) and co-founded the biotechnology startup Aquila Scientific to advance agricultural health diagnostics. His work has delivered keynote addresses, such as at the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology conference, and influences global One Health surveillance strategies through robotics and genomics integration.