Guest Editors
Filip Bielec
Medical University of Lodz, Department of Microbiology and Laboratory Medical Immunology
Dr. Filip Bielec is a medical doctor - microbiologist. In 2018, he graduated from the Medical Faculty at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland. Since then, he has been professionally associated with the Department of Microbiology and Laboratory Medical Immunology and the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory of the Central Teaching Hospital of the Medical University of Lodz. He is a research and teaching employee, laboratory specialist, and academic teacher in medicine, dentistry, prosthetics, and medical lab analysis. Scientific interests include antimicrobial therapy in urinary tract infections, multi-drug resistance of gram-negative bacilli, and antibiotic susceptibility testing methods.
Małgorzata Brauncajs
Medical University of Lodz, Department of Microbiology and Laboratory Medical Immunology
Dr. Brauncajs is a laboratory diagnostician specialist in medical microbiology. In 1998, she graduated in public health at the Medical Academy in Lodz, Poland. Since then, she has been professionally associated with the Department of Microbiology there. Since 2018, Head of the Microbiological Laboratory of the Central Teaching Hospital of the Medical University of Lodz. She is an Assistant Professor and academic teacher in medicine and dentistry. Scientific interests relate to antimicrobial therapy in acute infections with multi-drug resistant microorganisms, antimicrobial stewardship, and laboratory methods in clinical microbiology.
Collection Overview
Antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) is a very important task widely used in clinical and research laboratories. Descriptions of the first methods for this purpose come from the first half of the 20th century. Since then, there has been rapid development in the field of antimicrobial substances, and the range of methods that can be used for AST has expanded. AST reference methods are standardized in detail and described in the guidelines of organizations such as EUCAST or CLSI.
However, other methods are also used in scientific research, for which instructions are difficult to find. Besides, the mere textual description of the procedure is often insufficient to ensure its repeatability. Many inter- and intra-laboratory factors can affect the result of drug susceptibility testing, so it is essential to follow each step of the AST method carefully. This Methods Collection is intended to serve as a video manual of AST methods to make them easier for beginners and improve the quality of the results acquired.
