CIFT Cochin Training Course Molecular Diagnostics and Fingerprinting of Salmonella and Pathogenic Vibrios Associated with Seafood and Aquatic Environments 2011

Training Course in Molecular Diagnostics and Fingerprinting of Salmonella and Pathogenic Vibrios Associated with Seafood and Aquatic Environments 2011

February 14th – 27 2011

Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT Cochin)
CIFT Junction, Willingdon Island
Matsyapuri P.O., Cochin-682 029, Kerala

About the Programme Microorganisms may pose the risk of food contamination and can cause food-borne illness. It is estimated that infectious diseases cause about 40% of the  approximately 50 million total annual deaths, worldwide. The deaths due to the diarrhoeal diseases are mainly attributed due to the ingestion of contaminated food and water. Public concern regarding food safety has increased markedly over the past decades. The detection of food pathogens is crucial for food safety. Hence, diagnostic testing has become a recognized and important part of disease surveillance and food safety. Salmonella and pathogenic Vibrios are the major food and water borne pathogenic bacteria which cause diarrhoea/gastroenteritis.

The diagnosis  of food-borne diseases and detection of pathogens rely on a diverse range of technologies from traditional culture to advanced molecular methods. Most highly sensitive microbiological assays for detecting pathogens in food take days to complete the assay. Hence, it becomes cumbersome to screen large number of samples for these pathogens at a shorter time. Real-time, easy-to-perform and sensitive assays are needed to enable point-of-contamination detection and to screen large number of samples in short duration so that corrective actions can be taken promptly to reduce pathogen dissemination. More recently, alternative molecular approaches have been developed for the rapid diagnosis of these pathogens which provide results within hours for effective pathogen control. Molecular diagnostic methods employ genetic materials as diagnostic targets for identifying suspected pathogens. The nucleic acid based assays, particularly PCR or quantitative PCR, and probe based are most widely used molecular methods for identification of pathogenic bacteria in foods and water samples.

The fingerprinting of bacterial pathogens in food and medical microbiology provides a useful approach for epidemiology and source tracking of pathogens including Salmonella and Vibrios. Molecular fingerprinting of pathogens can be based on plasmid typing, enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequences (ERIC)-PCR, virulence gene characterization, and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis. These molecular fingerprinting methods provide useful information on genetic variation among the pathogenic strains.

Against this brief background, the Microbiology, Fermentation & Biotechnology Division of Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin, is organising a national training programme under the auspices of NAIP, ICAR to strengthen the core competence of researchers, teachers and trainers working in Fisheries, Agriculture and Medical Microbiology in India. The hands on training programme will be focussed on following topics related to molecular diagnostics of Salmonella and vibrios:

• Comparison of conventional and molecular diagnostic methods
• Real-time PCR for Salmonella in seafood
•Detection of virulence genes in Salmonella, Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio parahaemolyticus
• Serotyping of Salmonella serovars and Vibrio parahaemolyticus
• Diagnostic duplex PCR for Vibrio cholerae
• PFGE and ERIC-PCR for fingerprinting of Salmonella and pathogenic vibrios
• Detection and molecular characterization of Vibrio vulnificus
• Molecular mechanism of Vibrio harveyi pathogenicity
• Role of DNA microarray in molecular microbiology

Application Submission

Applications of the candidates in the prescribed format may be sent through proper channel so as to reach on or before 28th January 2011.
 
The applicants may send an advance copy, if they anticipate any delay in forwarding the application through proper channel. However, the final selection will be only made if the application duly recommended by the competent authority is received. The selected candidates will be intimated by speed post/emails by 31st January, 2011.

Further Info