Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Ananda M Chakrabarty
University of Illinois College of Medicine, USA
Keynote: Microorganisms and their products in cancer therapy and prevention
Time : 09:45-10:30
Biography:
Dr. Ananda M. Chakrabarty serves as Senior Science Advisor of Amrita Therapeutics Limited. Dr. Chakrabarty is a Amrita’s Senior Science Mentor and Global Domain Expert relating to how bacterial proteins effectively combat cancers, parasites, and viruses in the human body. Dr. Chakrabarty serves as a Distinguished University Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine, and advises senior officials in the U.S. and abroad on policies relating to biotechnology and related technology transfer. He is a Consultant to the United Nations. In 1980, Dr. Chakrabarty’s genetically modified Pseudomonas bacteria became the first genetically-engineered organism to gain a patent, as a result of the Supreme Court decision in Diamond vs. Chakrabarty. Dr. Chakrabarty undertook pioneering biotechnology research into the therapeutic potential for protein products of bacteria, both at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and on behalf of CDG Therapeutics, a U.S. biotechnology start-up company engaged in clinical cancer research. Dr. Chakrabarty has led path-breaking research into the therapeutic qualities of protein products of bacteria. His work includes recent studies with water-soluble products of pathogenic bacteria demonstrating significant promise for cancer therapies, effective against HIV/AIDS, malaria and perhaps even tuberculosis. Dr. Chakrabarty was a part of the Advisory Committee that resulted in creation of the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Trieste, Italy and rejoined the ICGEB Advisory Board. Dr. Chakrabarty has numerous publications and has received many notable awards for his contributions to biotechnology, including Padma Shri in 2007, one of the Indian Government’s highest civilian honors.
Abstract:
It is widely recognized that many bacteria can fight a variety of human diseases and indeed the American Academy of Microbiology convened an interesting meeting in 2014 in San Diego on the topic ‘Bugs as Drugs’, emphasizing the important role that bacteria play in fighting various diseases. The recent emphasis in this regard involves the role of human microbiome comprising of bacteria, archaea, fungi and protozoa, whose number is 10 fold higher than the human cells themselves. Many such gut bacteria have been implicated in immune modulation and protection of the human body from attacks by external pathogens. However, the disease-fighting role of pathogenic bacteria goes back more than 100 years when in 1892-93, William Coley in New York City’s Memorial Hospital observed that bacterial infections of his cancer patients often led to tumor regression. Since then, many efforts have been made and are continually being made to use genetically-modified bacteria to fight cancer, but only with limited success in the clinical trials because of the elimination of the cancer fighting bacteria by the patient’s immune system. Our efforts have not been directed to live bacteria but protein products of pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. One such cancer fighting protein, azurin has shown significant tumor regression in mice. Since proteins are designated as biologics and thus requiring undergoing stringent regulation by the USFDA for clinical trials, a company CDG Therapeutics, Inc., has used a fragment of azurin termed p28, a peptide of 28 amino acids for both pre-clinical and phase-I clinical trials. P28 showed no toxicity in a variety of animals, whereupon the FDA approved a phase-I trial of p28 in 15 stage-IV cancer patients with solid tumors such as melanoma, colon, sarcoma, prostate and pancreas. These tumors were resistant to all conventional drugs and the patients were terminally ill with a life expectancy of about 6 months. When administered through intravenous injections, p28 demonstrated very little toxicity but significant beneficial effects including partial and complete regression of these drug resistant tumors in 4 patients. Encouraged by such results, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored a second phase-I trial in 11 major hospitals in the US in pediatric brain tumor patients in October, 2013. That trial has been on-going for more than 2 years suggesting that p28 not only demonstrated acceptable toxicity but significant regression of the tumors in some patients. Indeed, it is important to note that the USFDA has approved on December 02, 2015, the designation of azurin-p28 as an orphan drug for the treatment of brain tumor glioma. Another company Amrita Therapeutics in India has developed similar bacterial peptides as potential anticancer drugs, indicating the role that bacterial proteins/peptides can play in cancer therapy.
Keynote Forum
Francis J Castellino
University of Notre Dame, USA
Keynote: Interactions between Streptococcus pyogenes and the host innate immune system that promote bacterial virulence
Time : 10:30-11:15
Biography:
Francis J Castellino has received his PhD degree in Biochemistry from the University of Iowa and spent two Postdoctoral years at the Duke University School of Medicine. He is the Kleiderer-Pezold Professor of Biochemistry and Director of the prestigious Keck Center for Transgene Research at the University of Notre Dame. He has published over 450 peer reviewed papers in the structural biochemistry of components of blood coagulation, anticoagulation and fibrinolysis, as well as in the pathophysiology of infective and inflammatory diseases related to hemostasis. He is a Member of several journal Editorial Boards and is the Editor-In-Chief of Current Drug Targets.
Abstract:
Approximately 250 M-protein based serotypes of Gram+ Group A Streptococcus pyogenes (GAS) have been isolated from infected patients. These isolates range from mild antibiotic-sensitive infections of the skin and nasopharynx to highly virulent infections of deep tissue that lead to conditions such as toxic septic shock and necrotizing fasciitis, as well as post-infective sequelae that include glomerulonephritis and rheumatic heart disease. A constant battle for survival is waged between this highly honed human-specific bacterium and the human host that can only employ generalized defense systems to combat the spread of the organism. GAS has evolved survival systems that include regulation of its own gene expression by sensors of different environmental niches, along with secretion of exotoxins that combat host defense cells and of great importance to this discussion, utilization of normal host systems for its defense. Of special interest is the conscription of the human hemostasis system by certain strains of GAS to aid this microbe in its survival and dissemination. Mechanisms will be discussed whereby components of the human coagulation, fibrinolytic, complement and inflammation systems are employed by GAS for its survival benefit.
Keynote Forum
Paul M Tulkens
Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Keynote: Are public campaigns effective to reduce antibiotic overconsumption: Did we fail to provide what is needed by the general practitioner?
Time : 11:35-12:00
Biography:
Paul M Tulkens has completed his MD from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. He has obtained his Postdoctoral studies from Rockefeller University, New York. He has created the Unit of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and has also launched the activities of Clinical Pharmacy at the Université Catholique de Louvain. He has published more than 280 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of several journals dealing with antibiotics.
Abstract:
Overconsumption of antibiotics is a major cause of increased bacterial resistance especially in the community. In the late 1990's, it became evident that the sales of prescribed antibiotics in the community in Belgium far exceeded that of other EU countries, largely due to patients' pressures. Accordingly, a public campaign was launched in 2000 (key message: "Do not ask for an antibiotic for non-bacterial infections") and repeated each year until now. The first campaigns (2000-2001 and 2001-2002) caused a significant reduction in antibiotic use (expressed in daily Defined Daily Doses [DDD] per inhabitant and per year). However, no further decrease but an increase was seen all over the 2003 to 2013 period. In parallel, focus groups studies with general practitioners, in-depth analysis of prescriptions habits through interviews with prescribers and national questionnaire studies showed that the main reasons for overprescribing antibiotics were the lack of early and unambiguous causal diagnostic (viral vs. bacterial infection), the pressure of patients when in need of a fast relief and the prescriber's fear of complications if not prescribing an antibiotic coverage. We conclude that public campaigns for reducing antibiotic over prescription in the community are not effective in reducing antibiotic consumption because they do not address the real causes of the prescriber's deviation from the proposed guidelines. Efforts should be directed towards definite improvements in early diagnostic and in the setting up of effective prevention measures about potential complications of infections for which no antibiotic would have been prescribed as per the guidelines.
- Infectious Diseases; Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences; Genetics and Immunology of Microbes
Location: Sheraton
Chair
Paul M Tulkens
Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Co-Chair
Tatiana Tatusova
National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA
Session Introduction
Paola Florez de Sessions
Genome Institute of Singapore, Singapore
Title: Early gut microbiota response to infectious diarrhoea in Vietnamese infants
Time : 12:00-12:25
Biography:
Paola Florez de Sessions has completed her PhD from Duke University and Postdoctoral studies at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases in Singapore. She is the currently the GIS Efficient Rapid Microbial Sequencing (GERMS) Platform Leader.
Abstract:
Diarrheal diseases result in approximately 1.7 billion new infections and 0.75 million deaths in children under 5 years of age annually, making it the second most common cause of mortality in young children in developing countries. Repeated diarrheal episodes cumulatively increase the risk of malnutrition and stunting, which is associated with cognitive impairment and development of cardiovascular diseases and glucose intolerance in adulthood. These greatly exhaust societal resources, especially in impoverished regions and create vicious cycles of poverty demanding effective and effortful interventions. The human gastrointestinal tract is populated with immensely diverse microbial community with the large intestine harboring the greatest density. Research on gut microbiota has revealed the essential impacts that it may exert on human health, in relation to nutrition, metabolic diseases and cancer. Metagenomic techniques have been employed to investigate the microbial disturbances in persistent Clostridium difficile infection and inflammatory bowel diseases but such dysbiosis remains insufficiently characterized for infectious diarrhea in endemic setting. The highly dynamic succession of microbial colonization in young children further complicates analysis in this target group. Nevertheless, several 16S rRNA profiling studies have reached consistent findings on how gut microbiota initially responses following diarrhea, showing a transition toward facultative anaerobic Proteobacteria or Streptococcus in a more oxygenated environment. This is coupled with the significant reduction in several Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes colonizers and their abundances are restored to that resembling a healthy individual in post-diarrhea recovery state. However, these studies either focus only on cholera induced diarrhea or do not offer detailed granularity in understanding the microbiome alternation. In this study, we aim to characterize how gut microbiota changes in the early phase of secretory diarrhea in Vietnamese young children by examining their bacterial 16S rRNA composition. We utilized samples and associated metadata collected during a hospital based diarrheal surveillance study in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam from 2009 to 2010.
Julia Maria Goncalves Dias
Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil
Title: Diagnosis of human papillomavirus infection among heterosexual men and risk factors associated
Time : 12:25-12:50
Biography:
Julia Maria Goncalves Dias is currently a Researcher from Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil. She has concluded her PhD in 2013 and her research line is about human papillomavirus infection in women and male partners. She has published papers in reputed journals.
Abstract:
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 630 million men and women are infected with HPV. In Brazil, between 9 million to 10 million people are infected and a total of 700,000 new cases are also expected to arise each year. Worldwide, 105 million people are estimated to be positive for types 16 and 18 HPV. From June 2009 to June, we conducted a cross-sectional study of penile lesion prevalence among male partners of women with human papillomavirus using morphological and biological methods. A total of 82 male sexual partners were recruited in the study. These men were submitted to peniscopy, cytology and viral DNA search. The male partners with penile lesion were submitted to biopsy. We investigated the association between cytology and histology. For statistical analysis, we used the X2 test with Yates’ correction. Mean age was 34.6 years, peniscopy was positive in 100%, the most common histological finding was the koilocytosis suggestive of HPV infection (76.8%), the viral DNA search was positive in 14% of men and the HPV types found were 16, 31 and 33. There was a significative association among biopsies and cytology, p=0.0134. The number of positive peniscopy and biopsies was significative. But the viral DNA does not match with the morphological findings. There was an association between cytology and histology.
Liu Hong
Shandong University of Technology, China
Title: Insights into the evolutionary history of an emerging virus: Banna virus
Time : 12:50-13:15
Biography:
Liu Hong has completed her PhD from State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China. She is currently working as an Assistant Professor at School of Life Sciences, Shandong University of Technology. Her current research interest includes the detection and investigation of arboviruses and associated disease.
Abstract:
Banna virus (BAV) was initially isolated from patients with encephalitis and fever in Yunnan Province of China in 1987. Since then, BAV isolates have been obtained from pigs, cattle and kinds of blood sucking insects in China, Indonesia and Vietnam, which were mainly located in tropics and sub-tropic zones. In 2013, BAV like viruses have been reported isolated in Hungary, showing that these kinds of viruses have been extends from tropical and sub-tropic zones of Southeast Asia to North temperate regions of Europe. BAVs have been considered as an emerging pathogen. However, until now, no systematic evolutionary analysis of BAVs has been reported. In this study, we used genome sequences of segment 12 of BAVs isolated worldwide from 1987-2012 to investigate evolutionary and epidemiologic dynamics. Phylogeographic approach estimated BAVs was originated in the Indonesia region and then rapidly spread to Southeast Asia and Europe within just about 30 years. The Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of BAVs reveals the time to most recent common ancestor and initial divergence of BAVs was at about the beginning of 20th century. Population dynamics analysis indicated that the genetic diversity of BAVs declined in the late 1980s, suggesting that the virus of BAV was suffering from bottle-necked event. These results and their interpretation provide new insights into our understanding of BAV evolution and dispersal and highlight its potential for introduction into new areas.
Paul M Tulkens
Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Title: Is the expression of catalase by Staphylococcus aureus protective or detrimental to the survival of the bacteria when exposed to H2O2 in broth or after phagocytosis by monocytes? Are we disproving a dogma or misinterpreting data?
Time : 14:00-14:25
Biography:
Paul M Tulkens has completed his MD from the Université Catholique de Louvain and he has also completed his PhD. He did his Postdoctoral studies at the Rockefeller University, New York. He has created the unit of cellular and molecular pharmacology and has also launched the activities of clinical pharmacy at the Université Catholique de Louvain. He has published more than 280 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of several journals dealing with antibiotics.
Abstract:
Production of catalase; an enzyme degrading oxygenated water (H2O2), is considered an important mechanism of protection of Staphylococcus aureus against killing by phagocytes, which partly relies on H2O2 production. We observed, however, that a catalase negative clinical isolate (UCN-61) was more resistant to H2O2 mediated killing in broth, produced less reactive oxidant species (ROS) and multiplied more rapidly in human monocytes than the reference catalase positive strain ATCC25923. By complementation UCN-31 with katA (the gene encoding catalase), we restored its susceptibility to H2O2 mediated killing, ROS production and growth impairment in monocytes. Similar results were obtained when comparing an engineered catalase (-) mutant (NR47908; prepared in the environment of the clinical strain USA300) to its katA-complemented counterpart. Addition of N-acetyl-cysteine (a hydroxyl-radicals scavenger) reduced the killing activity of H2O2 towards all catalase positive strains tested but not towards the catalase negative UCN61 and NR47908 strains, while increasing their thriving abilities after phagocytosis by THP-1 monocytes. Contrary to the current dogma, expression of catalase by S. aureus may, therefore, exert more deleterious rather than a protective effect to the bacterium. In S. aureus, catalase may actually function more as oxidase than as H2O2 degrading enzyme but ROS produced as intermediates during H2O2 degradation could be also involved.
G.V. Gladkov
All-Russia Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology, Russia
Title: An essential role of the rel gene in aerobic nitrogen fixation by Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, a heterocyst-forming filamentous cyanobacterium.
Time : 14:25-14:50
Biography:
Grigorii Gladkov is currently a PhD student working at the Laboratory of Rhizospheric Microflora in All-Russia Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology under the supervision of Dr. I. Ya. Khudyakov. He has received his Master’s degree in Microbiology from the Saint-Petersburg State University. His main interests are cyanobacteria genetics and biotechnology, focusing in cyanobacteria heterocyst differentiation.
Abstract:
Stringent response defines a regulatory effect exerted by alarmone (p)ppGpp accumulation as a mechanism to survive starvation and a variety of harsh environmental conditions. A failure to disrupt the rel gene in two unrelated strains of cyanobacteria has led to an opinion that in cyanobacteria this gene is essential. However, inactivation by single recombination producing a truncated and presumably partially functional version of rel (all1549) in Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 was claimed to result in the failure to differentiate heterocysts specialized cells that perform aerobic nitrogen fixation. Contrary to these results, we isolated fully segregated double recombinants with rel gene inactivated by the Ω cassette insertion which produced morphologically normal heterocysts but failed to grow diazotrophically (Fox- phenotype). Initial mutant clones were very sick, had altered pigmentation and died rapidly in the stationary phase (Dsp phenotype) but repeated sub-culturing resulted in gradual improvement of growth and restoration of normal pigmentation. We found an identical compensatory mutation in the rpoB (alr1594) gene encoding RNA polymerase beta subunit in several independent original mutants with improved growth characteristics. However, this mutation did not restore stationary phase survival or diazotrophic growth, while the rel gene supplied on autonomously replicating plasmid restored the wild-type phenotype. Currently we are trying to elucidate the nature of the Fox- and Dsp phenotypes caused by rel disruption.
Gaylen Uhlich
Agricultural Research Service, USDA, USA
Title: Variability in Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7 virulence and biofilm-forming properties generated by prophage-related genome alterations
Time : 14:50-15:15
Biography:
Gaylen A Uhlich has received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree from the University of Minnesota in 1981. After 8 years in mixed animal practice, he has joined FSIS/USDA as a Veterinary Medical Officer where he has worked in food safety for 4 years. He has completed a combined Residency/PhD program in Veterinary Pathology in 1998 and completed Postdoctoral research positions at the Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) in Clay Center, NE and at the Eastern Regional Research Center (ERRC) in Wyndmoor, PA before taking a Research Microbiologist position at ERRC.
Abstract:
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) carry numerous prophage scattered throughout their genome; for instance, the Sakai reference strain encodes 18 prophage elements, many of which are degenerate. By definition, STEC carry 1 or more copies of Shiga toxin (stx) like genes on lambdoid prophage inserted at specific genomic sites. Prophage carrying stx2 often insert in wrb, while stx1 often inhabits the proximal portion of the mlrA gene, an essential transcription factor for full expression of csgD, the central regulator of curli fimbriae and E. coli biofilms. UV light and DNA damaging chemicals can activate prophage genes and induce prophage elements to enter the lytic phase. As such, prophage elements can have a profound effect on both pathogenicity and stress resistance. These effects are mediated not only by additions to the bacterial gene complement, but also by imposing regulatory effects on the expression of genes encoded in the bacterial genome and other prophage, as well as through direct positional effects on the genes surrounding insertion sites. We have identified variants with increased biofilm-forming abilities that arise within growing serotype O157:H7 populations. Parent/variant comparisons have identified several favored mechanisms responsible for the phenotypic changes. Using WGS and transcriptomic analyses, we identified differentially-expressed prophage and genomic genes that accompany these changes. We have also mapped differences in prophage gene patterns associated with stress and virulence genes under varying concentrations of DNA damaging antimicrobial agents. Collectively, these studies have help define novel ways that STEC modulate their stress and virulence properties.
Tatiana Tatusova
National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA
Title: Keeping Pace with Genome Sequence Data Deluge
Time : 15:15-15:40
Biography:
Tatiana Tatusova has completed her PhD in Physics and Mathematics from Moscow State University, Russia. She is a Senior Scientist at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). She possesses 20+ years’ experience as a Researcher and Senior Systems Analyst with 15 years devoted to algorithm development and applied program package evaluation for genome-related research. She has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of several repute journals.
Abstract:
Recent technological innovations have ignited an explosion in microbial genome sequencing that has fundamentally changed our understanding of biology of microbes and profoundly impacted public health policy. This huge increase in DNA sequence data presents new challenges for the annotation, analysis and visualization bioinformatics tools. New strategies have been designed to bring an order to this genome sequence shockwave and improve the usability of associated data. Genomes are organized in a hierarchical distance tree using single copy ribosomal protein marker distances for distance calculation. Protein distance measures dissimilarity between markers of the same type and the subsequent genomic distance averages over the majority of marker-distances, ignoring the outliers. More than 60 thousand genomes from public archives have been organized in a marker-distance tree resulting in more than 6000 species level clades representing 7597 taxonomic species. This computational infrastructure provides a foundation for prokaryotic gene and genome analysis allowing easy access to pre-calculated genome groups at various distance levels. One of the most challenging problems in the current data deluge is the presentation of the relevant data at an appropriate resolution for each application; eliminating data redundancy but keeping biologically interesting variations.
Lilach Iasur Kruh
ORT Braude college, Israel
Title: Plant–parasitic weed–endophytic bacteria triangle
Time : 15:40-16:05
Biography:
Lilach Iasur Kruh has completed her PhD from the The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Postdoctoral studies from Newe Yaar, Agricultural Research Center, Israel. She is presently a Researcher and Lecturer at the Department of Biotechnology Engineering, ORT Braude College. Her field of interest is beneficial endophytic bacteria in agriculture. She has published seven peer reviewed papers and lectured in various international conferences.
Abstract:
Phelipanche and Orobanche species (broomrapes) are holoparasitic plants that connect to the vascular systems of their hosts, allowing the transfer of various substances including a possible exchange of endophytic bacteria that inhabit the internal tissues of both plants. To shed light on the microbial aspects of the parasitic interaction between Phelipanche aegyptiaca and its host, tomato, we characterized the endophytic composition in both plants before and after attachment using mass sequencing analysis. Endophyte communities of the parasitic weed were significantly different from that of the non-parasitized tomato root but no significant differences were observed between the parasite and its host, parasitized tomato root, suggesting bacterial exchange between these two plants. In addition to molecular analysis, isolation of endophytic bacteria from the parasitic weed-host plant system enabled to examine whether these isolates can affect the dynamics of host-parasite interaction. Endophytic bacteria isolates were examined for their ability to secrete substances that may affect the dynamics of this system and indeed, a few isolates inhibit the growth of the parasitic weed. The current study focuses on the bacterial aspect of host-parasite interaction and highlights the potential of exploiting alternative environmentally friendly approaches for parasitic weed control.
Elizabeth V Pershina
All-Russia Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology, Russia
Title: Soil prokaryotes: The inexhaustible metagenomic source for plant fertility promotion
Time : 16:25-16:50
Biography:
Elizabeth V Pershina has completed her PhD from All-Russia Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology in 2013. She has published 11 papers and 2 chapters in books. In 2015 she was awarded by the Russian Federation Government for the development of metagenomic approach for microbiological monitoring of health and resource potential of the Russian soils.
Abstract:
At the end of the 20th century microbiological science faced the fact that most of the prokaryotic communities on our planet are formed by so-called uncultivable bacteria and archaea. The presence of these organisms has changed the estimates of prokaryotic diversity to several billions of species. Soil microbial communities are especially diverse one gram of fertile soil can be inhabited by 10 billions of microbial cells belonging to hundreds of species; more than 90% of them avoid laboratory cultivation. These organisms can be studied only by the use of modern methods of metagenomic analysis, including high-throughput sequencing and subsequent bioinformatics analysis of environmental DNA. These approaches give the unique opportunity to study structural and functional properties of intact microbial communities, treating them as the integrative and continuously evolving genetic systems. In this respect, new perspectives can be seen in studying the rhizosphere effect; the selective concentration of certain microorganisms in the root zone of plants. Apparently, it is the high genetic diversity of plant associated microorganisms that allows it to improve their adaptive capacity. As in the case of the human intestinal metagenome, rhizosphere metagenome can be named the second plant genome. This talk will highlight the first results of the study of the formation of rhizosphere microbiome in two types of soils (sod-podzolic soil and chernozem) by two plant species Secale cereale (rye) and Triticum aestivum (wheat). The taxonomic structure of prokaryotic communities was analyzed for bulk and rhizosphere soil by use of V4 16S rRNA gene pyrosequensing after 42 days of greenhouse growth. Soil type seemed to be the major factor influencing the formation of rhizosphere microbiome, while the plant species affiliation had lesser (but still significant) effect on the microbial composition. Rhizosphere effect was largely associated with the increase of betaproteobacteria group. Rye rhizospheres were more similar to each other compared to wheat rhizospheres. The most significant differences between the bulk and rhizosphere soils were detected for wheat cultures and were likely associated with the increased amount of the genus Flavobacterium (phylum Bacteroidetes) in the rhizosphere of this plant. Our research demonstrates that the rhizoshere effect is the interplay of plenty factors including soil type and its agrochemical properties, plant and its multifaceted features and many other, leaving a large room for further analysis and investigation.
Francis E Oronsaye
University of Benin, Nigeria
Title: Bacterial infection of wounds in Benin city, Nigeria
Time : 16:50-17:15
Biography:
Francis E Oronsaye is presently working as an Associate Professor at University of Benin, Nigeria, where he pursued PhD in Medical Microbiology. After attaining Doctorate, he served in various positions including Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Principal Investigator for various projects involved in the same university. He has attended more than 20 international conferences and delivered talks in his field of expertise. He is a Member of International Research and Development Institute and American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. He has published more than 50 research articles in peer-reviewed journals. He was also successful in designing a lotion for treating all kinds of superficial infections of bacterial and fungal origin.
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to characterize the bacteria associated with wound infections. A total of 35 bacterial species were isolated from wound swabs from the patients attending the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and Central Hospital all in Benin City of Nigeria from isolates during April-November, 2013, as follows; Acinetobacter species 9, Escherichia coli 10, Taylococcus aereus 16, Pseudomonas aerogene 3, Staphylococcus epidermidis 15, Proteus mirabilis 4, and Klebsiella aerfogenes 13. The organisms were identified to species level using the protocol of Cowan and Steel. The antibiotics susceptibility patterns of the isolates were also determined in the present study.