Virus as an alternative therapy in the fight against multiresistant bacteria / Epidemiological surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in waste water
Viruses as an alternative therapy in the fight against multi-resistant bacteria
The misuse of antibiotics has favored the emergence of multi-resistant bacteria, and today it is a global health problem. In the absence of current treatments, there is a need to investigate alternative therapeutic approaches that allow us to treat bacterial infections specifically and effectively. In this sense, phages, viruses of bacteria, are postulated as a promising tool in the fight against multi-resistant bacteria. Phages have excellent qualities, including their high specificity for the target bacterium, and are ecologically safe. This means that they are not only interesting from a clinical point of view, they can also be useful in other areas such as agriculture, food control or industry. This conference aims to make the public aware of the current problem and the need to develop alternative therapies for the control of multi-resistant bacteria, phage therapy being a very promising strategy. Key concepts of microbiology will be introduced and emphasis will be placed on the need for science as an economic driver of society, and on the motivation to pursue a scientific career.
Epidemiological surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater
The recent pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has caused severe human and economic losses worldwide, sharply changing the way society lives and how to deal with new emerging viruses. To make decisions that improve the control of the pandemic, it is necessary to monitor the population and know the incidence of the virus. Epidemiological surveillance through wastewater is a simple, inexpensive and non-invasive system that allows us to quickly know the incidence of the population, which can help make real-time decisions. In addition, through wastewater, you can learn about the viral variants circulating in the study population. In this conference, key concepts of virology and epidemiology will be announced that will give the public the motivation to pursue a scientific career.
Pilar Domingo Calap,PhD in biology from the University of Valencia (extraordinary award), works as a virologist at the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology, joint university center of the University of Valencia-CSIC. After finishing his thesis on the evolution and adaptation of bacteriophages, the virus of bacteria, he did a 4-year postdoctoral period at the University of Strasbourg (France), where he studied the in vivo viral evolution of emerging viruses and the escape of immune system After receiving a Juan de la Ciera-Incorporación contract, he returned to Valencia, where he studied social interactions between viruses and started his line of research on the use of phages in biomedicine in the fight against multi-resistant bacteria. Recently, she has been the beneficiary of a Ramón i Cajal contract in biomedicine, where she develops her line of research in phage therapy in the fight against multi-resistant bacteria, being the main researcher in the environmental and biomedical virology group of the University of Valencia. He currently directs several projects based on phage therapy against multiresistant bacteria, funded by national and international calls (European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, VLC-Biomed, Challenges-Research). Another line of research directed by the researcher is the epidemiological surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in waste water, as well as the study of possible routes of indirect transmission of the coronavirus, funded by local and national agencies (Generalitat Valenciana , Health Institute, Carlos III Health Institute, CSIC, European Recovery Fund).
Estimulant les vocacions científiquesis a project of the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit of the University of Valencia, which has co-funding from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.
