Microbiology in Translational Health Science and Technology

The mission of the Course in Microbiology in translational health science and technology is to build a solid theoretical base in Public Health Microbiology and to offer activities dedicated to the scientific and technical training in Translational Microbiology, with the final goal is to offer advanced research training in this field. The course is composed by two different modules. The first module -- Human health and Clinical Microbiology - discusses the genomic background of microorganisms, their variability, and drug resistance spread, focusing the attention on the methodologies applied for studying genomic features and transmission dynamics. A particular attention is paid to nosocomial, air/food/water-borne diseases. The last part of the module is focused on the role of human microbiota in metabolic and behavioral disorders.
The second module - Gut health and gut microbiota in animal models - is aimed to introduce microbial community data analysis. There will be talks and discussion on theory and methodology for analysis of microbial community data. Topics ranging from gut health definition, design of studies, use of different animal models, sequencing technologies, importance of controls and standardized DNA processing will be covered, together with an introduction to the downstream analysis in R for exploration and analysis of microbiome sequencing data. Implications of the gut microbiota on gut health in animal models, together with an introduction on the data analysis are discussed.