The Kirby Laboratory
  • Home
  • Antimicrobials
    • Legionella pneumophila
    • T4SS-dependent Gram negative pathogens
    • CRE Pathogens
    • Mechanisms of carbapenem resistance >
      • Carbapenemases | KPC | NDM-1
      • Porins
      • Efflux pumps
  • Diagnostics
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Pathogenesis
  • About the PI
  • Personnel
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • Environment
  • Positions
  • Resources
  • Major Equipment
  • Donations
  • Comments
  • Contact Info
  • Internal Lab Resources

A primer on use of inkjet printing and time-kill studies for combination antimicrobial susceptibility testing

4/19/2019

1 Comment

 
Adopted by the CDC .in their Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory Network based on our prior publications in Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, and Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy for testing of aztreonam/ceftazidime-avibactam combination activity using inkjet printing. We provide a step by step video demonstration of assay setup in the Journal of Visualized Experimentation.  Link to article landing page  (PDF protocol access and video), "Antimicrobial Synergy Testing by the Inkjet Printer-assisted Automated Checkerboard Array and the Manual Time-kill Method" by Thea Brennan-Krohn and James E. Kirby.
1 Comment

"New Treatment Options against Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Infections" cites our preclinical studies on apramycin

1/28/2019

9 Comments

 
"New Treatment Options against Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Infections" cites our murine apramycin PK/PD studies and activity spectrum studies against "CRAB.".   
Picture
From Table 2. New Therapeutic Options for Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii
9 Comments

Mojave desert cacti recapitulate structural motif of fungal organisms

1/19/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Cholla cactus
Picture
Joshua tree
These cacti display dichotomous acute angle branching reminiscent of Aspergillus forms in clinical specimens.  Photographed in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada.
0 Comments

Pondering the oddities of companies bringing new antibiotics to market.  Part I.

12/12/2018

0 Comments

 
New antibiotics that may offer additional and much needed treatment options will only be used in hospital systems if the clinical microbiology laboratory can provide timely antimicrobial susceptibility testing data. Historically there has been a time lag in the availability of susceptibility testing methods either at reference laboratories (long delay to results), incorporation in automated commercial systems (4 years), or simpler methods like disk diffusion and gradient strips that can be performed manually on an as needed basis.  I was excited to learn that delafloxacin and meropenem/vaborbactam disk diffusion and gradient strip methods finally became available. Fantastic. However, before we can introduce those methods in the clinical laboratory, we need to validate performance of these methods per CLIA '88 regulations and good laboratory practice.  This requires either comparing the new methods to a reference standard (broth microdilution -- need antibiotic powder, and a lot of set up time) or a set of strains that has been previously characterized by a reference dilution method and has a good representation of susceptible and resistant isolates.  Those are serious roadblocks.  By chance, I happened to give a talk at the Northeast Branch of the American Society of Microbiology and a someone from Melinta Pharmaceuticals happened to be there, and that someone referred me to our local Key Account Manager who offerred a solution "on request". Specifically, Melinta or other pharmaceutical companies are not allowed to approach me and tell me about a solution, but if I inquire independently and ask for a previously characterized set of bacterial isolates, they are allowed to tell me that in fact they have a series of previously characterized isolates for both drugs available for validation. These isolates are provided free of charge from Laboratory Specialist, Inc, Sent by FEDEX with first class documentation, data for broth microdilution performed circa ten times on each isolates with modal MICs and MIC distribution - wow, that is awesome. Methods validated beautifully. It just seems odd to me that such a valuable resource, providing clinical laboratories the ability to robustly evaluate AST methods for newly marketed drugs, needs to remain on a need to know basis. Clinical labs, please take note of this available resource. The same proved to be true for plazomicin.  Achaogen uses the same Laboratory Specialists, Inc. to provide 30 characterized isolates on request; however, the FEDEX chargers are not absorbed. The FDA-CDC Biobank also now has a set of isolates characterized for plazomicin susceptibility and I see now also delafloxacin., I suspect the exact same set of organisms. The existing rule restricting such company-clinical laboratory communication about these important resources should be relaxed! We need facile access to validation strains sets to bring new testing into our laboratories in a timely fashion, to facilitate the availability of new antibiotics when they are most needed, and to help support profitability of antibiotic development by pharmaceutical companies.      
0 Comments

Blog post on pediatric clinical microbiology by Thea Brennan-Krohn

7/28/2018

3 Comments

 
JUST SMALL ADULTS? PEDIATRIC CONSIDERATIONS IN CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY
3 Comments

Winogradsky Columm at Harvard Museum of Natural History

7/11/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Winogradsky column for growth of diverse microbial species
Picture
Different types of soil bacterium. Perhaps some of the streptomyces shown produce antibiotics!
Winogradsky column and examples of soil bacterial from visiting exhibit on microbial life at Harvard Museum of Natural History.   Great exhibit!
0 Comments

"Death by Bacteria," 1939,  David Smith from "Medals for Dishonor"

6/15/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Reflections on bacterial pestilence in pre-antibiotic era. 

Displayed at Harvard University Art Museums



0 Comments

Superbugs: An Arms Race Against Bacteria by William Hall, Anthony McDonnell and Jim O'Neill

6/15/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
"But it must be said that we have failed in controlling antimicrobial resistance whenever a physician has to make a choice between a safe drug that might not work and a dangerous but effective one."  (page 38-39).

​


0 Comments

Digital Trends Post (AI Microscope)

1/11/2018

0 Comments

 
Artificial intelligence used to identify bacteria.
0 Comments

Miracle Cure by William Rosen

9/30/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Miracle Cure: The Creation of Antibiotics and the Birth of Modern Medicine by William Rosen
A thoroughly enjoyable book on the history of antimicrobials.  A big thanks to Thea for recommending!
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Kirby Lab Blog

    ​

    Follow @KirbyLabMicrobe

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Acinetobacter
    Antibiotics
    Antimicrobial Resistance
    Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing
    Apramycin
    Artificial Intelligence
    ASM Blog
    Awards
    Brucella
    Candida Auris
    Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter Baumannii (CRAB)
    Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae
    Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae
    Clinical Microbiology
    Colistin
    Collaborations
    Images
    Inkjet Printing Diagnostics
    Inoculum Effect
    Klebsiella
    Lab Activities
    Lab Member News
    Legionella
    Manuscripts
    Medicinal Chemistry
    Meetings
    Microbiology And Society
    Microbiology General Interest
    MRSA
    News Release
    Postdoctoral Research
    Post Graduate Research
    Post-Graduate Research
    Staphylococcus Aureus
    Synergy
    Type IV Secretion System
    Undergraduate Research
    VISA

    Archives

    January 2025
    July 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    August 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2014

    Antimicrobials
    Diagnostics
    Pathogenesis
    About the PI
    Personnnel
    Donate
  • Home
  • Antimicrobials
    • Legionella pneumophila
    • T4SS-dependent Gram negative pathogens
    • CRE Pathogens
    • Mechanisms of carbapenem resistance >
      • Carbapenemases | KPC | NDM-1
      • Porins
      • Efflux pumps
  • Diagnostics
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Pathogenesis
  • About the PI
  • Personnel
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • Environment
  • Positions
  • Resources
  • Major Equipment
  • Donations
  • Comments
  • Contact Info
  • Internal Lab Resources