Vittorio Sambri, MD PhD

Biography

Vittorio Sambri, MD PhD

Vittorio Sambri was born in Modena on May 22nd, 1960. Married with Gaia Magnani, they have 2 sons (Andrea and Giacomo) and one daughter (Maria Giulia). Dr Sambri graduated summa cum laude in Medicine at the Alma Mater Studiorum, the University of Bologna (1986). From September 1st, 1988 to May 31st, 1989 he attended the Laboratory of the ID Division, the University of California at Los Angeles under the supervision of Michael A. Lovett working on genetic transformation of spirochetes. He received his Ph.D. degree in Microbiology from the University of Genoa in 1991, discussing a thesis on the microbiology of spirochetal infection. From 1991 to 2004 he worked as research associate in the Laboratory of the Section of Microbiology, DMCSS, and the University of Bologna. Presently he holds a position as Associate Professor of Medical Microbiology and Head of the Laboratory of Medical Bacteriology, the University of Bologna. The research work refers to spirochetes and chlamydiae. The interaction between Kupffer cells and spirochetes has been studied in animal and in isolated primary cells. The ability of several cathelicidins to kill, in vitro, borreliae, leptospirae and T.pallidum has been investigated and a newly identified antigen (TprI) belonging to the Tprs family has been cloned and expressed. It has been demonstrated that the vmp family of proteins in B.anserina, is the principal pathogenicity determinant in an experimental infection. Studies on chlamydiae have shown that the pgp3, a plasmid encoded protein of C.trachomatis, is capable to induce protection, following DNA vaccination, in a mouse genital infection model. A new model of C.pneumoniae infection has been developed in the hamster and it has been used to asses the protective immunity following vaccination with recombinant proteins. He recently worked on the application of molecular methods to the diagnosis of sepsis. Dr Sambri has organized the "1st Conference of the European Society for Chlamydia Research, Bologna, 1988; and the "6th International Conference on Lyme Borreliosis", Bologna, 1994. He attended five times the Gordon Research Conference on Biology of Spirochetes. He is a member of the Board for the International Conference on Lyme Borreliosis since 1996 and of the MC of the EU COST Action 855.

Preliminary Evaluation of the Combined Use of eSwab and the "fastPas" Instrumentation: A Possible Way to Bring the Automation into the Bacteriology Laboratory

The routine work in the bacteriology Lab is still mainly based on manual procedures for isolation of bacteria in agar plates. Different techniques of plate streaking have been developed since the very beginning of bacteriology, but the common final goal is the growth of isolated bacterial colonies that can be picked up for the identification of the micro organism. A weak point in the procedure of bacteria isolation from biological samples is the collection of the specimen. When the collection of a body secretion is required for the microbiological diagnosis, this can be achieved by using a synthetic swab. These devices usually are quite inefficient in term of sample release for plate inoculation and the use of a gel transport medium is mandatory in order to preserve the viability of micro organisms. In this preliminary report, the combined use of flocked swabs and of an automated instrument for the inoculation of biological specimens onto agar plates has been evaluated. The major advantage of flocked swab is, besides the higher release of the specimen, the possibility to release the sample itself in a liquid transport medium that can be further handled by an automatic instrument. The "fastPas" ("inocuLAB") instrument (manufactured by Dynacon, Canada) is an automated machine that performs all the steps required from the opening of the sterile container up the labelling of the inoculated medium plate. The basic point for the use of this instrument is the liquid phase of the samples to be handled, since the machine operates with a "classic" bacteriology loop. In this study the capability of eSwab to release the "micro-organism load" was compared with standard swab with gel medium (basically a modification of the well known Amies medium). These tests have been performed with different strains, both from the ATCC and the University of Bologna collection. (Staphylococcus aureus, Serratia marcescens, Streptococcus agalactiae, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans). A freshly prepared suspension (0.5 Mc Farland) of individual microorgansims in 0.9% sodium chloride solution has been used to seed blood and selective medium agar plates, as appropriate following standard laboratory procedure, after sampling with standard and eSwabs. In addition, the suspensions have been added to biological samples (stool, vaginal secretion, bronco-alveolar lavage) in order to "simulate" true clinical samples with a known and well defined micro-organisms load. All these specimens have been processed both by using the "inocuLAB" and by hand with a plastic disposable 10-l loop. Plates have been incubated for 48 hours at 37°C and the number of individual isolated colonies was counted after 24 hours and at the end of the incubation period. The results of these tests clearly demonstrated that the number of CFU detected in samples handled by eSwabs was higher than that identified in samples handled by standard swabs. The techniques used to inoculate the plates (i.e. by the automatic instrument or by hand with a loop) did not make any difference in the total CFU load identified in different specimens. In order to evaluate the capability of the eSwab to keep the micro-organisms alive over the time, in comparison with ordinary swab with Amies medium, different bacterial suspension (see above) were sampled and used to inoculate sheep blood agar plates at time 0, 24 hours and 48 hours; each experiment was made in triplicate agar plates. After 48 hours of incubation the number of CFU was counted for each plate by an operator that was blinded about the identification of individual experiment. The number of CFU detected was slightly different for samples handled by eSwab in respect to standard swabs even after 48 hours of storage of the samples at room temperature. In conclusion, the eSwabs demonstrated at least a comparable performance with standard swabs in terms of survival of the micro-organism over the time. The almost complete release of the pathological load into a liquid medium is a new feature that "open the door" to the automation in the bacteriology lab.