Salmonella enterica is the leading cause of bacterial foodborne disease in the U.S., with an estimated 1 million cases, 19,336 hospitalizations, and approximately 378 deaths each year. Not only is Salmonella a public health concern due to the number of infections but also due to resistance to antimicrobial agents. Not only to Salmonella isolates carry numerous resistance genes, these genes are often carried on transmissible plasmids.  My lab in interested in identifying novel plasmids and characterizing their distribution in isolates from animal, human, and retail meat sources.