Applied Microbiology

Educational objectives
The course aims to provide students through a learning by doing approach with technical / scientific knowledge relating to the most common protocols implemented in an environmental and food microbiology laboratory. The course aims to provide students with the ability to define the methods and analytical procedures to be adopted to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the quality / process and safety indicator microorganisms of a food along its entire production chain starting from the raw material. Lastly, the course will provide the operational tools necessary to apply the notions of industrial microbiology in the laboratory.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students will be able to carry out the most common activities of an environmental and food microbiology laboratory. At the end of the course, students will be able to design, organize and execute experimental protocols for the correct identification of microorganisms of food interest as well as critically address the various steps of a food process in order to develop risk analysis. At the end of the course, students will also be able to organize and carry out the operations of setting up a biotechnological process, starting from the laboratory scale and will be able to associate macro- and micromorphology of the microbial groups most used on an industrial scale.
Course organization
Exercises: 8 hours
Laboratories: 28 hours
Lessons: 34 hours
Program
Preparation of culture media for the cultivation and maintenance of microorganisms of environmental and food interest. Cultivation of microorganisms in pure culture. Isolation of microorganisms from environmental and food samples. Quantification of the microbial load through the vital count method. Description of the bacterial colony. Performing Gram stain on bacterial cultures. Carrying out fermentation tests of sugars in pure cultures of microorganisms isolated from food matrices. The concept of bacterial species: phenotypic, genetic, phylogenetic characteristics. The principles of in vitro DNA amplification (PCR) and the methodologies used in microbial identification. Target genes, construction of primers, use of genomic date banks. Extraction, quantification and electrophoretic analysis of microbial DNA. PCR analysis for the identification of food-related microorganisms.
Microbiological aspects of the most important food products (milk and derivatives, cereals and derivatives, meat and derivatives, fruit and vegetables, water, soft drinks, low aw products). Guidelines for the preparation of microbiological analyzes on food samples (qualitative and quantitative analyzes). Execution of microbiological analyzes on the main types of food (fresh, packaged, fermented and low water content products), both through the use of traditional microbiology techniques and through the use of rapid and alternative methods, interpretation of results and methods of drafting of a test report. Methods of analysis and monitoring of the environment
Development of risk analysis and development of a self-control plan for the most common food production and handling processes. Principles of microbiological modeling and methods of setting up the microbial challenge test.
Preparation and maintenance of selected microbial cultures. From test tube to fermenter: preparation of pre-inoculation cultures and choice of process conditions; the concept of scaling-up. Design of a fermentation line. Preparation and sterilization methods of a culture medium and a fermenter. Preparation and calibration of pH and dissolved oxygen probes. Foam control mode. Method of inoculation and analysis of the microbiological process, also through the use of software. Management of withdrawals. Strategies for maintaining the concentration of dissolved oxygen in aerobic processes.