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Pathogens Webinar | Current Status of Acinetobacter Infections

10 Mar 2022, 14:30 (CET)

Acinetobacter Spp, Human and Animal Infections, Antibioticresistance
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Welcome from the Chairs

7th Pathogens Webinar

Current Status of Acinetobacter Infections

Acinetobacter baumannii has become a relevant threat for public health worldwide. This pathogen, belonging to the ESKAPE group, is one of the main causes of nosocomial infections with high mortality rates, such as pneumonia, blood infections, meningitis, UTIs, as well as skin and wound infections. Worryingly, A. baumannii infections are often difficult to treat because of the growing spread of multidrug-resistant strains globally. Even though few reports describe A. baumannii infections in companion animals in veterinary medicine, the possible transmission from humans to animals or vice versa could represent a new topic for discussion.

This explains the increasing interest and increasing studies about the pathogenesis, virulence factors, mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, diagnostic tools, therapeutic approaches, and prevention of Acinetobacter baumannii infections.

This webinar aims to speak on Acinetobacter spp and in particular A. baumannii infections in human and veterinary medicine, highlighting the importance of studies with a One Health approach to better define the real spread of this pathogen in hospital and extra-hospital reservoirs and environments.

Date: 10 March 2022

Time: 2:30pm CET | 8:30am EST | 9:30pm CST Asia

Webinar ID: 819 4546 0818

Webinar Secretariat: pathogens.webinar@mdpi.com

Chair

Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production of the University of Naples Federico II (Naples, Italy)

Introduction
Bio
Ph.D. Luisa De Martino, born in Naples (Italy) on 27 February 1959, is Associate Professor of Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology at the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production of the University of Naples Federico II (Naples). She obtained her MSc in Biological Science (1984), Specialist in Microbiology and Virology (1989), and Ph.D. in Molecular Diagnostics in Infectious Diseases of Animals (2001). She was a research scientist from 1988 to 1990 at Max-Planck Institute for the Medical Research of Heidelberg, Germany; in 1999 at the Institute of Virology - German Cancer Research Center of Heidelberg, Germany; in 2007 at the Institute of Virology, Veterinary Medical Faculty, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Since 2002, she has been teaching “Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology” for students in the second year of the degree course in veterinary medicine at the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production of the University of Naples Federico II (Naples). She is currently studying the phenotypic and genotypic profile of antibiotic-resistance of bacteria of animal origin. Moreover, she focuses her research on in vitro interaction between human keratinocytes and clinical strains of Malassezia pachydermatis. Innate immune response against Malassezia pachydermatis and Bovine herpesvirus 1/host interaction with particular attention to iron metabolism. Since November 2010, she has been Head of the Diagnostic Laboratory of Microbiology supporting the University Teaching Veterinary Hospital of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production of the University of Naples “Federico II”. Since 2015, she has organized Workshops of Veterinary Medicine in Naples (Italy) each year on topics concerning antibiotic resistance in large animals, small animals, bacterial infections of public health, alternative antimicrobial therapies and animal vaccination programs. Since 2017, she is a member of the management committee of the Task Force for Microbiome Studies of the University of Naples Federico II (Naples).

Invited Speakers

Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production of the University of Naples Federico II (Naples, Italy)

Introduction
Bio
Ph.D. Francesca Paola Nocera, born in Vico Equense (Naples, Italy) on 05 May 1989, is a University Researcher (SSD VET/05- Infectious Diseases of Domestic Animals) at the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples "Federico II". She is Doctor in Veterinary Medicine (DVM, 2015), Ph.D. in Veterinary Science (2019) and Specialist in Infectious Disease, Prophylaxis and Animal Health (2021). Since 2016, she has worked at the Diagnostic Laboratory of Microbiology, equipped with a Quality System compliant with European Standards (UNI EN ISO 9001: 2008, certificate n. 317JSGQ00), supporting the University Teaching Veterinary Hospital of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production of the University of Naples “Federico II” and of the territory. Her research focuses on bacterial infectious diseases of domestic animals (particularly small animals and horses) and on antimicrobial resistance profiles of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. She is currently studying methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS) of animal origin, with particular attention to multidrug- and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius canine skin infections. The prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) represents a potential risk factor of transmission between animals and humans, due to its zoonotic potential. DVM, Ph.D. Francesca Paola Nocera is the author of 22 ISI peer-reviewed articles, and she is the author of more than 46 presentations at meetings and symposia.

IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome, Italy, Department of Human Sciences and Promotion of the Quality of Life, San Raffaele Open University, Rome, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Ph.D. Cecilia Ambrosi is a Researcher of Microbiology at the San Raffaele Open University, of Rome, Italy. She obtained her MSc in Biological Science in1998, the Ph.D. in Public Health in 2002, and became a Specialist in Microbiology and Virology in 2011. Since 2019, she teaches “Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology for nutrition and nutraceuticals” for MSc students at the San Raffaele Open University of Rome. At the very beginning of her scientific career, she focused on the study of the biogenesis and transcriptional regulation of iron-chelators (siderophores) in environmental and pathogenic pseudomonads, such as Pseudomonas strain B10 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. At the National Research Council, she focused on the study of the expression of biosynthetic genes of carotenoids within the European and regional project NUTRA-SNACKS e BIO-NUTRA. Next, she moved to the Dept. of Public Health and Infectious Diseases at the Sapienza University, where she studied the virulence traits of Shigella flexneri (the secreted effector OspB and the enzyme apyrase) as well as the role of the outer membrane protein A (OmpA) during the pathogenic process. Since 2015, she is involved in the study of the evolution of virulence traits of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates via genomic, genetic and proteomic approaches particularly focused on major antibiotic-resistance genes (i.e., oxacillinases). In addition, she studies the interaction of A. baumannii with host cells using in vitro models such as human lung epithelial cells (i.e., CEACAMs receptors) and she is developing bronchial organoid models to unravel A. baumannii pathogenicity in health and disease. Cecilia Ambrosi is the author of 35 ISI peer-reviewed articles, 1 book chapter, and more than 40 presentations at National and International meetings and symposia.

Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Introduction
Bio
Soe Yu Naing is a researcher at the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. His work focuses on the molecular epidemiology of zoonotic pathogens with a particular interest in antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Naing holds a BA in Neuroscience from Earlham College in the United States. Before moving to Europe, he was a clinical research coordinator at the AIDS clinical trial at the University of Pennsylvania where he was working on HIV “cure” research. He recently graduated with an Erasmus Mundus master’s degree in Infectious Diseases and One Health (IDOH). This allowed him to obtain training on One Health at four different academic institutes across Europe. Naing collaborates with the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), and the World Health Organization (WHO) on several AMR-related projects including policy research. Along with his interdisciplinary research experience in North America and Europe, he is particularly interested in combating zoonotic diseases and AMR utilizing the One Health approach in resource-limited settings.

Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Introduction
Bio
Aldert Zomer is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University, The Netherlands, staff member of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Campylobacter and Antimicrobial Resistance and provides services for Janssen Vaccines and Prevention. Aldert Zomer obtained a PhD from University of Groningen, Molecular Genetics, in 2007. After his PhD, he worked at University College Cork in Ireland and Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, before joining Utrecht University. He focuses on analysis of bacterial (meta-)genomes for comparative genomics, molecular epidemiology and linking bacterial genotype to clinical manifestation of disease.

Department of Mathematics, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Introduction
Bio
Ms Ourania Kousovista is a 4th year Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Crete. She received her Bachelor degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Crete in 2015 and her Masters degree in Applied and Computational Mathematics from the same university in 2017. Her research focuses on mathematical modeling in medicine; time series analysis; non-linear mixed effect modeling; machine learning; stochastic differential equations.

Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Professor Stefania Stefani, Full Professor of Microbiology at the Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences of the University of Catania (Italy), head of the Laboratory of Molecular Medical Microbiology and of the study of Antimicrobial Resistance (MMARL) active institution for the surveillance of resistant pathogens and President of the Italian Society of Microbiology. The scientific activity of Prof. Stefani is related to different aspects of antibiotic resistance in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria: from molecular mechanisms to epidemiology, from genome studies to the characterization of mobile elements carrying resistance genes. Furthermore, since 2014 he has been Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance (Elsevier).

Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Professor Viviana Cafiso, is Assistant Professor of Microbiology at the Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences of the University of Catania (Italy). Her main research lines include studies on different pathogenic microorganisms (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii and Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex), investigating their resistances, the molecular mechanisms underlying biofilm production and the discovery of molecules with anti-biofilm activity. For her research, Prof. Viviana Cafiso performs bioinformatics analyzes and uses "omics" approaches, including genomics and transcriptomics (using Next Generation Sequencing and RNA-seq), and proteomics using Mass Spectroscopy. She is skilled also in real-time qPCR for absolute or relative quantification studies of both DNA and RNA using SYBR GREEN or Taqman probes and High-Resolution Melting Analysis (HRMA) for the analysis of point mutations associated with antibiotic-resistance and for the identification of different bacterial species.

Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Ph.D. Stefano Stracquadanio, received his PhD in translational biomedicine in 2019 and he is now a post-doc researcher at the molecular medical microbiology and antibiotic resistance laboratory of the BIOMETEC Department of the University of Catania (Italy) under the supervision of Professor Stefania Stefani. His researches focus on the detection of the molecular basis of antibiotic resistance, the discovery of new molecules with antibacterial effect as well as other strategies to overcome the threat represented by MDR bacteria, both Gram-positive (i.e., Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus spp.) and Gram-negative, especially A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he also collaborated to several studies involving the SARS-CoV-2. These researches have been published in international peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international scientific congresses.

Webinar Content

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Program

Speaker/Presentation

Time in CET

Chair Luisa De Martino

Chair Introduction

2.30 – 2.35 pm

Francesca Paola Nocera

Acinetobacter baumannii: Its Clinical Significance in Human and Veterinary Medicine

2.35 – 2.50 pm

Cecilia Ambrosi

Acinetobacter baumannii: An Ancient Commensal with Weapons of a Pathogen

2.50 – 3.05 pm

Work team (two people):

Soe Yu Naing, Aldert L. Zomer

Genomic investigation of two Acinetobacter baumannii outbreaks in a veterinary intensive care unit in the Netherlands

3.05 – 3.25 pm

Ourania Kousovista

Correlation between Acinetobacter baumannii Resistance and Hospital Use of Meropenem, Cefepime, and Ciprofloxacin: Time Series Analysis and Dynamic Regression Models

3.25 – 3.40 pm

Work team (three people):

Viviana Cafiso, Stefano Stracquadanio, Stefania Stefani

Colistin resistance onset strategies and genomic mosaicism in clinical Acinetobacter baumannii lineages

3.40 – 4.00 pm

Q&A Session

4.00 – 4.15 pm

Closing of Webinar

Chair Luisa De Martino

4.15 - 4.20 pm

Relevant SI

Current Status of Acinetobacter Infections
Guest Editor: Prof. Dr. Luisa De Martino
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 April 2022

Sponsors and Partners

Organizers

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