Course Details

Microbiology

MF0349

Course
Microbiology
Code
MF0349
Academic Year
2023/2024
Curriculum Year
2022/2023
Degree Programme
FOOD HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT
Curriculum
000 - CORSO GENERICO
Course coordinator
Credits
10
Lecture Hours
80
Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)
MED/07 - Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, BIO/19 - General Microbiology
Course Type
Integrated learning activity
Course Delivery
OBB - Obbligatoria
Year
2
Teaching period
Secondo Semestre, Primo Semestre
Campus
VERCELLI
Teaching language
English
Course Contents
GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY
The course aims to provide students with specialized skills concerning the structure and functioning of microbial communities present in the soil, in food and in humans. Information will be provided regarding the communication and organization of microbial populations. Information will be provided about the functions that microbial communities perform and their importance in agricultural ecosystems, in food production and in human health.

MICROBIOLOGY IN NUTRITION
The course will deal with the description of microrganisms responsible for human intoxications or used for food manufacturing. Moreover, the course aims to provide students with specialized skills concerning the food safety guidelines.
Reference Texts
GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY
The Gut Microbiome in Health and Disease, Haller, Dirk (Ed.), Springer
The lecturer will supply scientific articles concerning the proposed themes and not contained in the indicated text.

MICROBIOLOGY IN NUTRITION
Stephen J. Forsythe
“The Microbiology of safe food” (second edition)
Ed.: Wiley- Blackwell
Learning Outcomes
GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY
The course aims to provide the basic theoretical skills related to microbial populations and their applications in the environmental, agricultural, food, pharmaceutical and clinical fields. The student acquires the basic principles to isolate, characterize, conserve and manipulate bacteria. The course aims to provide the analysis methods of the main clinical, food and environmental matrices as well as the competences for the interpretation of the results. The course aims to provide the concepts inherent in bacterial taxonomy and the characteristics of the main bacterial strains. The course aims to provide basic knowledge of the biology of microbial communities and their possible exploitation.

MICROBIOLOGY IN NUTRITION
Building a mental model that allows understanding, having acquired the morphological, structural, biochemical and pathogenic characteristics of microorganisms, the mechanisms of action underlying the pathogenesis and the identification techniques currently used in the microbiology laboratory.
Prerequisites
GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY
The student must possess basic knowledge of biology and, in particular, of the morphology and physiology of the eukaryotic cell. It must also possess an adequate property of language and scientific mastery.

MICROBIOLOGY IN NUTRITION
The student should have knowledge of cell biology and general microbiology.
Teaching Methods
GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY
Lectures in the classroom with slide presentations and multimedia material. Possible expert seminars on specific topics. Reading, discussion and presentation of scientific articles in the classroom.

MICROBIOLOGY IN NUTRITION
Lectures will be held with slide presentations and multimedia material. All the slides will be available to the students on the DIR platform. This material is to be considered integrative of the textbook and never its substitute.
The course includes visits to companies and analysis laboratories.
Reading, discussion and presentation of scientific articles.
Additional Information
GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY
The control of learning, in itinere, will be carried out with partial tests with correction in the classroom and collegial discussion of the topics dealt with. In particular, the different types of possible problems and potential variables will be evaluated in order to stimulate the acquisition of critical skills in tackling scientific work and in interpreting results.

MICROBIOLOGY IN NUTRITION
In itinere exams are not planned.
Assessment Methods
GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY
The exam consists of an oral test that consists of questions that are addressed to the student on the main topics covered during the course. The oral test has the dual purpose of verifying the level of knowledge and understanding of the course contents and to assess judgment autonomy, learning ability and communicative ability. To pass the exam, the student must demonstrate knowledge and at least have understood the fundamental concepts and the most important results related to them; moreover, appropriately stimulated, it must demonstrate the ability to recognize the mistakes made and therefore identify the correct ways; finally, he must be able to present the arguments in an understandable way. To reach sufficiency it is necessary to know the basic biology of the bacterial cell and to be able to demonstrate that it has acquired the notions inherent to the bacterial taxonomy, the biology of microbial communities and the main applications of microbiology in the food, agricultural, pharmaceutical, industrial and clinical fields. In order to obtain a high grade, the student must demonstrate an independent judgment and a critical sense related to the topics dealt with, exposing his / her conclusions in a clear and logical way. The evaluation is expressed in thirtieths (minimum grade 18).

MICROBIOLOGY IN NUTRITION
The exam is a written test, where the knowledge acquired by the student is evaluated. The exam consists of 6 open questions.
5.5 points are assigned to each question; the written test is considered passed if the overall score is not less than 18 points. The score will be numerical and will progressively go to a maximum of 30 Laude (33 points), depending on the knowledge level of the student. During the written test it is not allowed to consult any microbiology texts.

The final evaluation, shared by all professors, will be assigned through the arithmetic mean of the scores obtained in the individual exams.
Detailed Syllabus
GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY
The course will be divided into three main thematic areas: 1- the microbial communities associated with agricultural soils; 2- the microbial communities associated with the production of typical Italian foods; 3- the microbial communities associated with humans in physiological and pathological conditions.
In particular, during part 1 we will address: Plant species and soil type cooperatively shape the structure and function of microbial communities in the rhizosphere; Characterization of metaproteomics in crop rhizospheric soil; soil bacterial community response to differences in agricultural management along with seasonal changes in a Mediterranean region; the rhizosphere microbiome. Significance of plant beneficial, plant pathogenic and human pathogenic microorganisms; community proteogenomics reveals the systemic impact of phosphorus availability on microbial functions in tropical soil; Vitis vinifera phizosphere: characterization of microbial community associated using metagenomic and metaproteomic approaches; a bacterial-fungal metaproteomic analysis enlightens an intriguing multicomponent interaction in the rhizosphere of Lactuca sativa; antibiotic resistomes in plant microbiomes.
During part 2 we will address: Traditional cheeses: Rich and diverse microbiota with associated benefits; Pecorino Crotonese cheese: Study of bacterial population and flavour compounds; Surface microbiota analysis of Taleggio, Gorgonzola, Casera, Scimudin and Formaggio di Fossa Italian cheeses; Microbial diversity, dynamics and activity throughout manufacturing and ripening of Castelmagno PDO cheese; Study of microbial diversity in raw milk and fresh curd used for Fontina cheese production by culture-independent methods; Microbiological characterisation of Robiola di Roccaverano cheese using PCR– DGGE; Molecular evaluation of microbial diversity occurring in different types of Mozzarella cheese.
During part 3 we will address: intestinal microbiome in health and disease: introduction; composition and function of the gut microbiome; microbiome and early life; molecular microbiome analysis; evolutionary perspectives on the human gut microbiome; microbiome and gut immunity: the epitelium, innate immune cells, T cells, B cells; microbiome and diseases: inflammatory bowel diseases, allergy, graft-versus-host disease, pathogen infection, colorectal cancer, metabolic disorders, hepatic disorders, neurological disorders. Clinical implementation of high-throughput sequencing. Fecal transplantation. The urinary tract microbiome in health and disease.

MICROBIOLOGY IN NUTRITION
Foodborne and waterborne pathogens responsible for human intoxications:
Bacteria: Campylobacter, Salmonella, Escherichia Coli, Shigella, Staphylococcus Aureus, Yersinia enterocolitica, Clostridium botulinum, Clostridium Difficile, Bacillus Cereus, Vibrio Cholerae, Vibrio vulnificus, Brucella..
Virus: Hepatitis A virus, Hepatitis E virus, Rotavirus, Enterovirus, Norovirus.
Parasites: Anisakis, Toxoplasma gondii, Giardia Lamblia, Taenia.
Toxins: Aflatoxins.
Prions
Food safety guidelines (HACCP)
Methods of detection and characterization of foodborne and waterborne infections.
Expected Learning Outcomes
GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY
Acquisition of mastery of basic theoretical knowledge related to microbiology and its applications in the environmental, agricultural, food, pharmaceutical and clinical fields. Acquisition of the fundamental principles to isolate, characterize, conserve and manipulate bacteria. Acquisition of the mastery of the methods of analysis of the main clinical, food and environmental matrices as well as the skills for the interpretation of the results. Acquisition of the mastery of the notions inherent to the bacterial taxonomy and the characteristics of the main bacterial jambs. Acquisition of mastery of basic knowledge of the biology of microbial communities and their possible exploitation.
Acquisition of appropriate scientific language. In particular:
"Knowledge and understanding": Acquisition of in-depth knowledge on bacteriology concepts and methodologies, knowledge of microbiology concepts and applications related to infectious problems, acquisition of appropriate scientific language.
"Applied knowledge and understanding": knowing how to identify the data necessary to provide information regarding the presence and type of microorganisms linked to infectious problems and to have tools to find them in reliable locations; ability to interpret the cultural results obtained, ability to apply appropriate techniques aimed at the isolation and identification of microorganisms.
"Making judgments": ability to critically analyze the elements related to the spread of infectious agents, autonomy of judgment in the evaluation of experimental data.
"Communication skills": perfecting the disciplinary vocabulary in the field of microbiology and bacteriology, as well as describing in a clear and concise way phenomena and problems related to infections even to non-workers. Ability to report on the pathological characteristics of important microorganisms in infections with an appropriate scientific language, both in oral and written form.
"Learning skills": acquisition of the ability to acquire, deepen and update independently, by reading texts and scientific articles.
Ability to use teaching material for a critical and reasoned study.

MICROBIOLOGY IN NUTRITION
Acquisition of in-depth knowledge about microbiology in the nutrition field. Acquisition of an appropriate scientific language. Ability to use the supplied material for a critical and reasoned study.

Moduli

Course year 2
Code MF0351
Course Microbiology: Medical microbiology in nutrition
Lecturers Cinzia BORGOGNA
SSD MED/07
Campus VERCELLI
Curriculum CORSO GENERICO
Credits 5
Course year 2
Code MF0350
Course Microbiology: General microbiology
Lecturers Elisa BONA
SSD BIO/19
Campus VERCELLI
Curriculum CORSO GENERICO
Credits 5
Last update:09-09-2026 00:14:31