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Fighting bacteria
Tuesday 15 January 2013, at 20,30What is a bacterium? What happens to the human body when attacked by pathogenic bacteria? What are the mechanisms our body uses to defend itself against such attacks? Is it true that antibiotics are not as efficient as they once were? When Fleming discovered penicillin, the entire world was convinced that this would be the end of infectious diseases. Almost a century has passed and reality is quite different. In this war, bacteria are defending themselves presenting mutations harder and harder to fight. Masters of adapting, they manage to survive in the most hostile environments. What are the new solutions that research can offer us today? Can we really beat bacteria?
Our hosts, Annalisa Pantosti, medical microbiologist, and Maurizio Fraziano, immunologist, will try to answer these and many more questions, being our guides in the exploration of the microcosm of bacteria.
Maurizio Fraziano
Teaches Immunology and General Pathology at the Science Faculty of the University of Rome "Tor Vergata", in the framework of the Biotechnology and Industrial Biotechnology courses. He is the author of various scientific publications in international journals in the field of antimicrobial immune response e two international patents. His research activity, taking place at the Department of Biology, is mainly focused on mechanisms for the regularization of innate immune response and on the conception and development of new immune-therapeutic strategies aiming to enhance the anti-microbial response of the host.Annalisa Pantosti
Is a medical doctor specialized in Infectious Diseases, Director of Research at the Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-mediated Diseases at the Higher Institute of Health (ISS), where she is mainly working on bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance. Her research activity is focused on the molecular characterization and the epidemiology of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. She coordinates the microbiological aspects of the Italian Surveillance in antibiotics-resistance, that supplies data at the European Surveillance Network. She is the author of several scientific publications on this subject. She has been actively involved in promoting the European Day for Antibiotics, in Italy. This initiative has been established by the european authorities to alert and enhance citizens' and doctors' awareness on the cautious use of antibiotics.