NEWS

Visit to University of Prishtina

On 15 September 2021, our director Prof. Önder Ergönül, head of American Hospital General ICU department Prof. Nahit Çakar, Associate Professor Şiran Keske from Koç University Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and internal medicine specialist Bilgin Sait from American Hospital visited Prishtina with the invitation of Kosovo Ministry of Health to discuss the latest updates on COVID-19 and plan future collaborations.

The meeting was held in person with the physicians of Prishtina University. As well as many physicians from 7 different regions of Kosovo have attended the meeting with remote connection. Participants exchanged their experiences on COVID-19 epidemiology, treatment strategies, and patient management in ICUs. Our researchers, had the opportunity to visit local inpatient services and the intensive care units, whereas possibilities of future joint research were evaluated.

HYBRID SYMPOSIUM

Advisory Board Member Prof. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil Visited KUISCID

Within the scope of our joint projects, our Advisory Board member Prof. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil visited KUISCID. Our Advisory Board Member received information about the center’s organisation, infrastructure and operation while having conversations with our research team during his visit.

After the brainstorm of future opportunuties of joint projects Prof. Hotamışlıgil gave a presentation titled “Subcellular molecular architecture and metabolic homeostasis”. The hybrid symposium was organized by KUISCID and the School of Medicine.

PUBLICATION

Virulence Determinants of Colistin-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae High-Risk Clones

K. pneumoniae is a member of intestinal microbiota of healthy individuals. In some conditions, by changing its genetic structure, it may turn into virulent bacterial form, or in other words, into a high-risk bacterial form with a high ability to cause disease and may cause different infections.

K. pneumoniae ST101 (Sequence Type 101), which is one of the high-risk bacterial species, has the ability to develop antibiotic resistance more easily and spread rapidly, is an important threat worldwide.

Studies with colistin-resistant K.pneumoniae ST101 have shown that these bacteria carry the iron uptake systems that successfully capture and use the iron in the tissues and their resistance to neutrophils increases the success of survival.

The drugs targeted for stopping iron uptake systems would be a promising approach for the treatment of colistin-resistant high-risk clones of K.pneumoniae infections.

Click here for the full text.

HYBRID SYMPOSIUM

Researchers of KUISCID Attended the COVID-19 Symposium

In the hybrid symposium organized by the Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (KLIMIK), our center’s researcher Prof. Önder Ergönül evaluated the current situation of COVID-19 epidemiology in Turkey and worldwide. He evaluated the possible reasons of successes and failures for countries through this timeline. Prof. Füsun Can explained the latest updates on antigen detection and antibody tests in COVID-19 and talked about the usages and limitations of antigen tests. Within the “SARS-CoV-2 variants” session chaired by Prof. Füsun Can, Asst. Prof. Mert Kuşkucu gave a speech about the variants, their prevalence around the world, and factors that facilitate the variant formation.

Click here to access the final declaration of the symposium. (Only available in Turkish)

NEWS

Bioaerosol Analysis Studies

The bioaerosol analysis cabinet, which was added to the central infrastructure in collaboration with Koç University Hospital; gives the opportunity to conduct bioaerosol studies within our BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratories with a standardized and reproducable manner. In the biosafety level -2 laboratory (BSL-2), bioaerosol production and air sampling are carried out in a sealed cabinet that mimicks the enclosed bioaerosol collection system. Collected air samples are inoculated into cell culture in the Biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory, and virus studies are performed. This system that we actively use in our research can also serve for innovative studies in the industrial field.

NEWS

PhD Student from KUISCID Joined ESCMID Summer School in Lisbon

One of our Ph.D. students Fatihan Pınarlık became the only participant accepted from Turkey to the 19^th ESCMID Summer School meeting with ESCMID scholarship. Our student demonstrated his findings which he conducted at our center with an oral presentation titled “Fasciola hepatica” We congratulate Fatihan.

JOB OPPORTUNITY

Be a Part of Our Team!

There will be open positions in the field of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology. To learn more about the career opportunities, you can visit our Careers webpage.

Click for page.