39282 - Batteriology and VirologyTechniques (BO)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, the student will learn the laboratory techniques employed for the diagnosis of diseases caused by bacteria and viruses.

Course contents

This course is part of the Clinical Microbiology I integrated course and it will mainly follow the leads of the Bacteriology and the Virology courses, dealing specifically with laboratory techniques employed for the diagnosis of disease caused by bacteria and viruses.

 

This course will be divided in 3 macro-sections:

 

1. In the section regarding the methods and the diagnostic techniques employed in Microbiology:

• Introduction: infective agents classification and different methods for microbiological diagnosis, significance of species identification and antimicrobial resistance;
  
  
• Sampling methods and sample acceptance criteria;
  
  
• Microscopic examination: bacterial and viral morphology, preparation of microscopy slides, stainings.
  
  
• Cultural examination: growth conditions, culture media, plating techniques, morphology of bacterial colonies;
  
  
• Molecular biology examination: short introduction to a good laboratory practice when performing molecular-based assays, short description of the most relevant nucleic acids extraction and amplification techniques in Microbiology;
  
  
• Antibody and antigen detection: description of the most relevant serologic techniques in Microbiology (ELIA, CLIA, Western Blot).

 

2. In the section regarding the work flow in the Bacteriology laboratory:

• Practical examples of diagnostic processes;
  
  
• Bacteria species identification techniques;
  
  
• Antibiotic susceptibility tests.

 

3. In the section regarding the work flow in the Virology laboratory:

• Practical examples of diagnostic processes;
  
  
• Virus species identification techniques;
  
  
• Antigen/antibody quantitative assays.

Readings/Bibliography

The study of the materials provided by the professor, availabie via the Virtuale platform, is the only requirement for the final exam.

For a detailed insight about the course contents, please refer to the list of recommended readings at the end section of each presentation.

Teaching methods

Frontal and interactive in-person lectures.

For each lesson one or more slide presentations will be shown, along with explanatory videos and meaningful clinical case studies. At the end of each lesson there will be an anonymous and optional test via Microsoft Forms with the aim of focusing on the covered topics.

Assessment methods

Lecture attendance is mandatory (students should attend 75% of the scheduled hours) and allows to understand which topics will definetely be featured in the final exam.

A final written exam is used for the learning verification and evaluation, with the following characteristics:

• 1 hour and 30 minutes of duration;
• Mainly comprised of close-ended questions with multiple answers;
• No penalties for unanswered questions and wrong answers;
• Use of textbook, notes and tech supports is not allowed;
• The exam is deemed to be passed with a minimum grade of 18/30;
• The best possible grade is 30/30 cum laude.
  

Students that reject the given grade, withdraw during the test or fail to enroll for the first date of the written exam will be evaluated with a final oral exam instead. The oral examination will be the default assessment method for the subsequent sessions, with the following characteristics:

• Knowledge of the covered topics, scientific fluency, autonomous analysis and contents comparison skills are the considered criteria for gradation;
• 3 main questions will be posed and for each question a grade from 1 to 11 will be assigned (for a total score of 33);
• The exam is deemed to be passed with a minimum grade of 18/30;
• The best possible grade is 30/30 cum laude.

The final grade of the Clinical Microbiology II integrated course is the weighted average of the grades obtained in each single courses that compose it. The grades of each single courses have no due date.

Teaching tools

The classrooms will be equipped with a computer with speaker, videoprojector and internet connection, for lecturer use only.

Slides will be available via Virtuale and downloadable in the Portable Document File format (.pdf) before each lesson.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro De Filippo