Microbiology, awarded for a technique to detect resistant bacteria
The award-winning communication, "Study of carbapenemases by mass spectrometry in Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa", was carried out by Yannick Hoyos, Carmen Liébana, Jorge Julio Cabrera, Álvaro González, Inés Pérez, Socorro Yáguez, Encarnación Valverde, María Dolores Rojo, Consuelo Miranda and José María Navarro, the last three researchers from the "Emerging and Translational Microbiology Research" research group at the Granada Biosanitary Research Institute.
In this work, the Microbiology laboratory of the Granada hospital has developed a technique based on mass spectrometry that allows the rapid detection of resistant bacteria. There are bacteria that produce enzymes that destroy the molecules of some antibiotics and therefore their effectiveness.
These enzymes are usually located in plasmids that are transferred from one bacterium to another and usually lead to the appearance of multi-resistant strains, hence the importance of rapid detection in order to prevent their dissemination. This technique represents a great advance since it is faster, simpler and cheaper than conventional techniques, being able to save costs in both diagnosis and treatment.
A benchmark in microbiology
The Microbiology clinical management unit of this hospital has extensive experience -since 1975- in conducting microbiological and antibiotic susceptibility studies for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. In 2006 it received recognition from the national accreditation body (ENAC) in the identification and determination of antimicrobial susceptibility after the implementation of a work system based on the UNE-EN-ISO 15189 standard. Furthermore, in 2007 it received the Advanced level accreditation according to the Andalusian Health Quality Agency (ACSA).
