Microbiology - Prof. Roberta Prete - a.a. 2025/2026
Section outline
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Tenure-track Assistant Professor in Food Microbiology at the Department of Biosciences and Agro-Food and Environmental Technologies of the University of Teramo. Graduated in 2014 in Applied Biomolecular Sciences (LM6) at the University of Perugia with a thesis in Applied Microbiology. In 2018 she obtained the title of Doctor Europaeus, carrying out a PhD in Food Sciences in the field of Microbiology applied to the food sector, at the University of Teramo during which she carried out part of her research as a Visiting PhD Student at the APC Microbiome Institute – University College Cork in Ireland, within the Microbe-Host Dialogue Research Group.
The current main research activities are focused on food microbiology, with particular interest on fermented foods and pro-technological microorganisms (especially lactic acid bacteria) and probiotics associated to fermented foods and their impact on the host. The research activities refer to 5 main topics: 1. the microbiology of fermented foods for the development of multifunctional starter cultures; 2. the genotypic, phenotypic and functional characterization of lactic acid bacteria associated with fermented foods; 3. the study of microorganism-host interactions in intestinal models and in vivo in animal models; 4. the human diet-intestinal microbiota relationship; 5. The impact of the microbiota and probiotics in inflammatory diseases and in the brain-gut axis, with particular reference to neurodevelopmental pathologies.
Link alle pubblicazioni:
https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57193510702; https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_l2AdIkAAAAJ&hl=it&oi=aoThe course aims to provide the student with the following knowledge (points 1-4) and skills (points 5-8):
1. Know the fundamental differences (structural and functional) between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
2. Know the environmental factors that regulate the metabolic activities and the growth of microorganisms
3. Know the fundamental aspects of taxonomy and the main phenotypic and genetic techniques for the identification of microorganisms
4. Know the main microorganisms of biotechnological interest
5. Knowing how to recognize, through microscope observation, the main microbial morphologies
6. Knowing how to distinguish, by staining, Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria
7. Knowing how to cultivate, count and isolate microorganisms in pure culture through the use of culture media
8. Knowing how to identify microorganisms by phenotypic techniques
With specific reference to the acquisition of skills, the laboratory activity, complementary to the lectures, will have the purpose of allowing the student to verify, consolidate and apply the theoretical knowledge acquired during the lectures and to make him acquire the necessary manual skills to operate in a microbiology laboratory, to the point of knowing how to apply the techniques for the observation, counting, isolation and identification of microorganisms. This activity is considered very useful for the training of a graduate with a solid basic knowledge of biological systems and in possession of an operational professionalism to spend in the agro-food, environmental, pharmaceutical, industrial, medical and veterinary fields.
Furthermore, during the laboratory activities, the student will be guided in solving concrete problems (eg determination of the number of cells in samples of different nature, identification of microorganisms). In this way, the student's ability to make autonomous decisions on the most appropriate operating methods will be stimulated based on the information that will be provided from time to time. Moreover, in the phase of interpretation of the results related to some analytical techniques applied during the laboratory activities, the student will have the opportunity to refine the ability to formulate judgments and to reflect on the possible implications of his work.
At the end of the course the student must be able to demonstrate that he has acquired solid theoretical-practical skills that will represent the basis in order to deepen, even independently, issues of a microbiological nature of increasing complexity in the course of subsequent studies.
The course program includes the presentation and discussion of the following topics:
Microorganisms and their position in the living kingdom. Structure and functions of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell. Microbial nutrition and culture media. Outline of the main catabolic pathways (fermentation, respiration, anaerobic respiration) in reference to growth in the presence / absence of oxygen. Microbial growth. Endospore formation. Factors affecting the growth and survival of microorganisms: pH, water activity, oxygen availability, temperature. Outline of the molecular biology of microorganisms. Elements of virology, with particular reference to bacteriophages. Bacterial genetics: exchanges of genetic material between bacteria (conjugation, transformation, transduction). Taxonomy. Methods of classification of microorganisms. Phenotypic and genotypic identification of microorganisms, with hints to the PCR technique applied to phylogenetic taxonomy. Description of some microbial groups of biotechnological interest: lactic acid bacteria, actinomycetes, enterobacteria.
Laboratory activities. Microscopy and morphology of microorganisms: optical microscopy, fresh preparations and stains, with particular reference to applications in bacteriology. The equipment of the microbiology laboratory and the culture media. Methods of counting microorganisms: viable count. Pure culture, transfer and conservation methods. Identification of microorganisms with miniaturized phenotypic systems.
- Madigan M.T. - Martinko J.M. - Bender K.S. - Buckley D.H. - Stahl D.A. BROCK Biology of Microrganisms 16th Edition (2020) Pearson
Student evaluation will be conducted according to the following methodology:a written test (multiple choice), on the e-learning platform, covering all program topics. A score of 18/30 or higher will be considered a passing grade. Otherwise, the test may be retaken at any subsequent exam session.
Students who are dissatisfied with the test result may take an oral exam starting from the exam session following the written test.
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Course presentation. Importance of microorganisms for human life. History of Microbiology -
Theoretical principles of microscopy and overview of optical and electron microscopy systems
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General characteristics of the cell and cellular life. Bacterial shape and size. Structures of the prokaryotic cell. Facultative structures: capsule, slime layer, glycocalyx, Biofilm, flagella, pili and fimbriae.
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Cytoplasm. Inclusion bodies. Ribosomes, phylogenetic trees, and domains. DNA organization in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Plasmids. Haploid and diploid yeast status
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Bacterial cell wall. Gram stain. Biosynthesis and cell wall damage.
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Structure of the cytoplasmic membrane. Membrane transporters and their function. Active vs. passive transport. Protein secretion.
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Bacterial endospore: morphology, composition, sporulation and germination. Staining and enumeration
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Principles of prokaryotic genetics. Transformation, conjugation, and transduction.
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Viruses. Lytic and lysogenic cycle
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Microbial Nutrition and culture media
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Microbial growth. CMD. Viable count. Embedding plate, spreader, smear. MPN.
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isolation, propagation and pure culture. Turbidometry and growth curve (batch culture). Mathematical data of microbial growth.
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