Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Biography

Biography: Pierre Burguière,

Abstract

Flow cytometry is being used since several decades in eukaryotic biology; however its application for microbiological diagnostic is much more recent. Technological advances of research have led to the development of next-­â€generation flow cytometry protocols allowing the emergence of avant-­â€garde approaches in the field of microbial analytics.

An overview of these global approaches will be presented to illustrate flow cytometry-­â€ based strategies for microbiological analysis, amongst which: i) detection, quantification, and identification of pathogens and contaminants in different matrices (e.g. food products, beneficial microbes products such as probiotics, drinking water and wastewater); ii) determination of microorganisms susceptibility to antimicrobial compounds, iii) assessing beneficial microbes ability to impede adhesion of pathogens onto intestinal epithelial cells.

Technically, these approaches rely on flow cytometry viability assays that can be combined with antibodies (immunofluorescence) or nucleic acid probes (fluorescence in situ hybridization) in order to allow the analyses to be microbe-­â€specific. In certain cases, coupling to microbial enrichment (microbiological growth and/or non-­â€culture based procedures) is also required.

Efficiency of these approaches has been demonstrated for the analysis of beneficial microbes (e.g. lactic acid bacteria) with higher performances than those of classical approaches (shorter result-­â€delivery time, less labor-­â€intensive, potential for automation, more precise results). Thus validating the potency of flow cytometry in providinginnovative solutions for R&D and quality microbial analysis.