University of Liverpool

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Immunology and Infection

Use of Artificial Sputum Medium to Test Antibiotic Efficacy Against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Conditions More Relevant to the Cystic Fibrosis Lung

Sebastian Kirchner¹, Joanne L Fothergill², Elli A. Wright¹, Chloe E. James¹, Eilidh Mowat¹, Craig Winstanley¹

¹Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool , ²NIHR Biomedical Research Centre in Microbial Disease, University of Liverpool

Current diagnostic antimicrobial susceptibility testing relies on the planktonic growth of isolates in nutrient rich, aerobic conditions. Here, we employ an alternative artificial sputum medium to study antimicrobial susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms under both aerobic and microaerophilic conditions more representative of the cystic fibrosis lung.

Medicine

Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage

Jenna F. Gritzfeld¹, Angie D. Wright^1,2,3, Andrea M. Collins^1,2,4, Shaun H. Pennington¹, Adam K.A. Wright⁵, Aras Kadioglu⁶, Daniela M. Ferreira¹, Stephen B. Gordon¹

¹Respiratory Infection Group, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, ²Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen, University Hospital Trust, ³Comprehensive Local Research Network, ⁴NIHR Biomedical Research Centre in Microbial Diseases, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, ⁵Institute of Lung Health, Respiratory Biomedical Unit, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust & University of Leicester, ⁶Department of Clinical Infection Microbiology & Immunology, Institute of Infection & Global Health, University of Liverpool

Experimental human pneumococcal carriage offers a natural model of carriage and a potential model for use in vaccine development. This technique is valuable yet complex and involves clinical risk by introducing a pathogen into a human. We have developed a detailed protocol.