Human Microbiota and Host-Interactions

Microorganisms: taxonomy, fundamental and ancillary bacterial structures, virulence factors and pathogenicity. Role and relevance of microorganisms in foods. Foodborne diseases: virulence factors and pathogenic mechanisms, bacterial toxins, adherence and invasion mechanisms.
Innate immunity: physical and chemical barriers. Role and functions of epithelial cells and antimicrobial peptides. Macrophages and neutrophils: role and function in host defence, mechanism of phagocytosis and NETs formation. Role of dendritic cells and the complement system in host defence. Bacterial evasion strategies from components of the innate immune system.
Adaptive immunity: antigen-presenting cells, difference between MHC-I and MHC-II. Mechanism of antigen-presentation and recognition in bacterial infections. Immunoevasion strategies adopted by pathogens to elude antigen-presentation.
T lymphocytes: activation and effector functions of T cells in response to commensal bacteria and pathogens. Antigen-specificity of T-cells and mechanisms used by pathogenic bacteria to avoid adaptive immunity.
Microbiota: composition, phyla and enterotypes. Gut Microbiota: microbial-microbial and host-microbial interactions. "OMICS"-technologies to study human microbiota: metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. Bioinformatic analysis: 16S analysis, database example. Dysbiosis: microbiota alterations in human diseases and immune evasion strategies of pathogenic microorganisms. Analysis and characterization of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of different chronic inflammatory intestinal diseases: irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics, genetically engineered probiotics and Fecal-microbiota Transplantation: immuno-modulatory effects and possible clinical application in Dysbiosis-associated diseases.
Gut-Brain axis and Gut-lung axis: mechanism of bidirectional communication between microbiota and the central/enteric nervous system, and lung microbiota and chronic lung inflammation. Intestinal microbiome alteration and its relationship to neurodegenerative diseases (Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's). Dysbiosis in Lung microbiota and its relationship to chronic inflammatory airway diseases (Asthma, Cystic Fibrosis, COPD).
Practical laboratory activities: infection of an epithelial cell line with commensal or pathobionts bacteria and analysis of their adhesion and invasion capability. Evaluation of bacterial isolates from different samples (yogurt, probiotic formulation): aerobic and anaerobic growth, quantification of probiotic isolates. Evaluation of the inflammatory response of epithelial cells after infection with probiotic or pathobionts bacteria.