A method to quantify viable carbapenem resistant gram-negative bacteria in treated and untreated wastewater.

Carbapenem resistance, particularly in Enterobacteriaceae, is an urgent threat to public health worldwide. Wastewater treatment plants are a critical control point for the spread of antimicrobial resistance into the environment yet, due in part to the lack of appropriate methods, the occurrence, identification and removal of carbapenem resistant bacteria has not been well characterized in wastewater matrices. This project was designed to provide a method for quantification of viable carbapenem resistant (CR) gram-negative bacteria (GNB) in raw sewage and treated wastewater effluents.

Validation of a 30-year-old process for the manufacture of L-asparaginase from Erwinia chrysanthemi.

A 30-year-old manufacturing process for the biologic product L-asparaginase from the plant pathogen Erwinia chrysanthemi was rigorously qualified and validated, with a high level of agreement between validation data and the 6-year process database. L-Asparaginase exists in its native state as a tetrameric protein and is used as a chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment regimen for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). The manufacturing process involves fermentation of the production organism, extraction and purification of the L-asparaginase to make drug substance (DS), and finally formulation and lyophilisation to generate drug product (DP).

Rapid characterization of outer-membrane proteins in Neisseria lactamica by SELDI-TOF-MS (surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight MS) for use in a meningococcal vaccine.

Immunological and epidemiological evidence suggests that the development of natural immunity to meningococcal disease results from colonization of the nasopharynx by commensal Neisseria species, particularly with Neisseria lactamica. We have reported previously that immunization with N. lactamica outer-membrane vesicles containing the major OMPs (outer-membrane proteins) protected mice against lethal challenge with meningococci of diverse serogroups and serotypes and has the potential to form the basis of a vaccine against meningococcal diseases [Oliver, Reddin, Bracegirdle et al.