Background
Since 2004, the ATLAS programme has been one of the world’s most comprehensive sources of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data — a living resource built to understand how bacteria and fungi respond to treatment across time, regions, and therapeutic classes.
With more than 900,000 clinical isolates tested globally, the programme’s goal was to make these insights open and actionable for researchers, clinicians, and policymakers. To achieve that, the sponsor needed a technology and data management partner capable of transforming raw laboratory data into an accessible, quality-assured global database.
The Challenge
Managing data at this scale is a significant scientific and technical undertaking. Each isolate generates hundreds of data points — from minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) results to genomic and phenotypic attributes. Ensuring quality, consistency, and accessibility across millions of results requires robust systems and continuous validation.
At the same time, the data had to remain open access, free to use, and immediately searchable by any registered user, without compromising data integrity or patient confidentiality.
Micron’s Contribution
Micron became the data partner responsible for managing, validating, and maintaining the ATLAS database — a project that now houses over eight million records from laboratories worldwide.
We receive raw AMR data directly from the central laboratory and subject every dataset to exhaustive quality control through Micron’s proprietary MARS (Micron Analysis & Reporting System) engine. This closed-testing framework detects anomalies, ensures internal consistency, and harmonises metadata across studies and years of surveillance.
Once validated, the data are released through a secure, open-access web platform, where users can freely register to explore the results. Researchers can query the database by pathogen, antimicrobial, region, phenotype, genotype, or demographic variable, and instantly generate visual outputs — from resistance heatmaps to MIC distributions and susceptibility trends.
Every report can be downloaded locally, allowing users to build custom analyses or integrate findings into their own research pipelines.
The Result
Through ATLAS, more than 900,000 isolates spanning 20 years of surveillance are now publicly available, giving scientists and health agencies unprecedented visibility into resistance evolution and regional variation.
Thousands of users worldwide access the platform to support surveillance reports, academic studies, and public-health initiatives — each drawing from the same harmonised data foundation maintained by Micron.
Live public portal: atlas.surveillance.com
Outcome and Impact
Micron’s partnership has helped transform the sponsor’s long-term surveillance investment into a living, global AMR knowledge resource. The MARS-driven quality system and open data infrastructure ensure that decades of microbiological testing continue to inform resistance research, stewardship programmes, and new therapeutic development.
By merging scientific rigour with accessibility, ATLAS stands as a model of how data transparency can accelerate global collaboration in tackling antimicrobial resistance.
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