R&D in conventional microbiology

MALDI-TOF in clinical microbiology

MALDI-TOF emerges as a new technology that revolutionizes bacterial identification. In Lausanne, we use this technique since March 2009. Our R&D program allowed us to precise the ideal protocol for each practical situation. Thus, as an example, we developed a specific ammonium-chloride procedure to obtain a suitable pellet from positive blood cultures that may be tested by MALDI-TOF (Prod’hom et al. 2010). We also showed the usefulness of MALDI-TOF for microbial identification in routine diagnostic laboratory (Bizzini et al. 2010, Croxatto et al. 2012, Clerc et al. 2013, Clerc et al. 2014, Vogne et al. 2014).

Bacteremia is a severe condition associated with significant mortality. Thus, early etiological diagnosis is mandatory. To reduce the time from positivity of a given blood culture bottle to the bacterial identification, we first implemented a specific ammonium-chloride procedure to obtain a suitable pellet from positive blood cultures that may be tested by MALDI-TOF (see above) and also using other approaches, such as Vitek identification cards. Noteworthy, antibiotic susceptibility testing using Vitek approach is also feasible and accurate on these ammonium chloride pellets (Prod'hom et al. 2010, Prod'hom et al. 2013, Croxatto et al. 2014, Opota et al. 2015).