Medical University of Lublin

The Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology was established in 1945 within the structure of newly organized Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy at the University of Maria Curie-Sklodowska in Lublin. The founder and the first Head of the Department was Dr. Wacław Mirkowski. In 1951 the Department was relocated to new building in 6 Staszica St., next in 1964 was moved to Collegium Maius in Lubartowska 85. Since 2002 the Department has been located in a new building of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Collegium Universum in 1 Chodźki St.

Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology provides classes on Microbiology and Immunology for pharmacy students, medical analytics students and cosmetology students. Every year 6-8 master theses are completed in our Department by students of the 5th year of pharmacy, medical analytics or cosmetology. Main teaching goal of the Department is to introduce students to general and clinical microbiology. Our students participate in lectures and seminars of Microbiological analysis of drugs, Industrial microbiology and New direction in research of preparation with antimicrobial activity.

Main research areas:

• microbiological and epidemiological studies for selected infectious diseases (identification of aetiologic agents, antibiotic susceptibility, risk factors analysis);
• application of molecular methods in infectious disease diagnostics, including: qualitative and quantitative analysis of bacteria and fungi prevalence in clinical samples, determination of resistance mechanisms, resistance genes and virulence factors genes of pathogens, genotyping of isolates for epidemiological molecular analysis (PFGE, RAPD, PCR-RFLP, MLST) ;
• analysis of microbiota status in patients with chronic and severe diseases (e.g. cervical cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, endometrial cancer, sarcoidosis, lung cancer)
• research on formation, structure and functions of bacterial and fungal biofilm with use optical microscopy services for qualitative and quantitative analysis;
• assessment of external factors influence, including antibiotics and newly tested compounds, on biofilm formation and eradication using phenotypic and molecular methods;
• antibacterial/antifungal activity in vitro and in vivo testing of plant compounds and newly synthesized chemicals;
• searching for new composition of probiotics to improve human microbiota depending on specific patient requirements.

1. Fully equipped microbial culture units in BioSafety Level 2 (BSL-2) for aerobic, anaerobic, microaerophilic bacteria and fungi
2. Genetic Analyser 4300s LICOR
3. Real time PCR: Roche Lightcycler 96
4. Automatic diluter and plater of Petri dishes, Easy Spiral Dilute
5. Fully motorized, inverted imaging system, Olympus IX83
6. DNA Pointer System PLUS 4.1
7. T Professional Basic Gradient 96
8. Mapper XA Chiller System, complete pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) unit
9. Automatic ID/AST testing Vitek 2C30, Biomerieux
10. Centrifuges and ultracentrifuge (MSE),
11. 2-D Molecular Imaging System
12. Thermo-mixers and thermoblocks
13. Multi-frequency ultrasonic baths
14. UV transilluminator
15. BioTek ELx800 - Absorbance microplate reader
16. Shaking incubator