The Department of Microbiology at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal was founded in the year 1963. It is located in second floor of Centre for Basic Sciences Building. Over years the department has witnessed seminal progress in the field of medical Microbiology, leading to National and International Reputation. The department actively involves in imparting the science of Microbiology with innovative pedagogy practices in higher education. The department offers quality clinical Microbiology diagnostic services to the tertiary care hospitals and adjoining health care systems in the state through its accredited labs by ISO 15189:2012 and National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), a Constituent Board of Quality Council of India (QCI). 

To develop collaborations between the institutions and enhancing quality of education, skills and to impart training to the learners, the department of Microbiology is engaged with five eminent adjunct faculty.

• Dr. Ankur Mutreja

        University of Cambridge, UK

• Dr. Kalisavar Marimuthu

        National Centre for infectious Diseases, Singapore

• Dr.Balaji Veeraraghavan

        Professor, Clinical Microbiology Christian Medical College & Hospital,Vellore, Tamilnadu

• Dr.Chaitanya A. K. Tellapragada

          Research Specialist in Clinical Bacteriology Division of Clinical      Microbiology,Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm,Sweden.

Ph.D awarded:

Ongoing PhD

https://manipal.edu/mu/academics/phd.html

Department of Microbiology is a multidisciplinary unit and has been able to provide standardized consultancy services in the field of bacteriology, mycobacteriology, parasitology, mycology, immuno-serology and molecular diagnosis.

The department of microbiology is NABL accredited since July 2016 as per ISO-15189.

The directory of services from microbiology offers 97 diagnostic tests.

The laboratory processes around 25000 samples per month.   The critical care microbiology lab situated in hospital offers 24 x 7 service to critically ill patients.  Diagnostic laboratory for Covid-19 is equipped with automated extractor and RT-PCR instruments.

The lab has state of the art facilities like automated blood culture system, Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization – time of flight technology [MALDI-TOF], automated antimicrobial testing system [VITEK -2], anaerobic chamber, real time PCR and automated immunoassay platforms along with conventional microbiological tools for diagnostic services.  All the diagnostic tests are subjected to continuous quality assurance through external and internal quality assurance programs. 

Bacteriology

This division handles various samples like exudates, blood, urine, respiratory specimens and stool for culture and antimicrobial susceptibility.

The ultramodern facility like VITEK MS, VITEK -2 facilitate fast and accurate test result for the clinicians to adjust therapy, for overall patient care and outcomes.

The presence of BACT-ALERT VirtuO, provides a new dimension to the existing automated blood culture system.  Advanced reporting is available with MYLA middleware provides a comprehensive view of analytical cycle of Microbiology workflow.

Anaerobic Bacteriology:

This specialized division, provides accurate and quality identification of anaerobic pathogens from diverse clinical specimens.  The division is endowed with state-of the–art facility - anaerobic workstation 

Mycobacteriology

The division handles diagnostic facility for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria in pulmonary and extra-pulmonary samples.

This lab is engaged with RNTCP through public-private partnership.

The facilities owned by the division include, automated liquid culture system [MGIT], conventional culture, GeneXpert and line probe assay for drug susceptibility testing.

Immuno-serology

This division provides immunological diagnosis for infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases. The infectious disease diagnosis has test packages for viral hepatitis, acute febrile illness, sepsis markers, fungal serology and parasitic serology. The test to detect antibodies to SARS-CoV2 helps in surveillance and assessing vaccine response.  The section is equipped with automated immunoassay platforms like Cobas 6000, EVOLIS which facilitate faster, accurate and quality processing of samples.

The HIV diagnostic section is the recognized state reference laboratory by NACO. The section has an associated integrated counselling and testing Centre, which carries out surveillance testing also.

Molecular diagnosis

The department has a 24 x 7 RT-PCR facility for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. The molecular diagnostic facility has GeneXpert instrument for performing CBNAAT testing for SARS-CoV-2, viral load testing of HIV, HBV and HCV.  The division is proud to have DNA Microarray for HLA-B27

Mycology Laboratory division:

The Mycology Laboratory division at Department of Microbiology, KMC, Manipal offers specialized diagnostic services for the identification of diverse fungal pathogens and cater to the needs of tertiary care facilities at Manipal and Udupi. It provides expert clinical and technical consultation in diagnosing varied mycotic infections ranging from superficial, subcutaneous, systemic and deep-seated mycoses including fungal sinusitis and oculomycoses. The lab has pivotal role in prompt diagnosis of neglected, rare and exotic mycoses among vulnerable population. In the recent times the laboratory remained steadfast in ascertaining the etiologic role of mucormycoses during the COVID pandemic. The laboratory carries out an assortment of direct microscopy methods like; fungal staining, fluorescence and phase contrast microscopy for demonstration of fungi in specimens and is operational with dedicated; class II type A2 Biosafety Cabinets, temperature regulated orbital and BOD incubators; for propagation of fungi, liquid nitrogen facilities for preservation, stereomicroscopy with image capture system, automated yeast identification system, thermal cycler, electrophoresis units and UV transilluminator. The lab facilitates in-vitro antifungal drug susceptibility testing and indoor mould evaluation for sick building syndrome upon request. For more than a decade the lab has been enrolled in the WHO-PGIMER Medical Mycology External Quality Assurance Program of the country to ensure hallmark of quality and remains an affiliate to rare fungal infections registry.

Hospital Infection control surveillance

The laboratory has dedicated facility for environmental sampling of air and water from hospital areas, hostels and operation theatres. Quality control of sterilization and disinfection facilities of hospital CSSD is also monitored by the section. The facility also provides consultation to external hospitals and general public for bacteriological surveillance.

Research

The department of Microbiology is endowed with state-of-the-art research capabilities. It is engaged in a wide variety of research endeavors centered on several thematic areas. With diverse areas of emphasis in infectious disease diagnostics, the department of Microbiology provides a wide range of laboratory experiences and a faculty dedicated to excellence in teaching and research. The innovative research ideas and research gaps identified by faculty in their respective thrust areas are often addressed by fetching the research funds supported by university or extra-mural finding agencies.

List of Extramural projects

1.    Rello J, Campogiani L, KE Vandana. Understanding resistance in enterococcal infections. Intensive Care Med 2020;46(2):353–6

2.    Kapi Sadani, Lokesh Muthuraj,  Marisca Fernandes, Kiran Kondabagil, Chiranjay Mukhopadhyay, Soumyo Mukherji . A Point Of Use Sensor Assay For Detecting Purely Viral Versus Viral-Bacterial Samples. Sensors Actuators B Chem 2020;322:128562

3.    Nash M, Kadavigere R, Andrade J, Sukumar CA, Chawla K, Shenoy VP, Pande T, Huddart S, Pai M, Saravu K. Deep learning, computer-aided radiography reading for tuberculosis: a diagnostic accuracy study from a tertiary hospital in India. Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):1–10

4.    Prabhu A, Nandagopal MSG, Prakash PY, Singhal HR, Mani NK. Inkjet printing of paraffin on paper allows low-cost point-of-care diagnostics for pathogenic fungi. Cellulose 2020;27(13):7691–701

5.    Ravindra Attur Prabhu, Tushar Shaw, Indu Ramachandra Rao, Vandana Kalwaje Eshwara, Shankar Prasad Nagaraju, Srinivas Vinayak Shenoy, Chiranjay Mukhopadhyay. Acute kidney injury and its outcomes in melioidosis. J Nephrol 2021;1–8.

https://eprints.manipal.edu/view/subjects/MIC.html

Centre for Emerging and Tropical Diseases, MAHE (CETD)

Dr. Chiranjay Mukhopadhyay, Professor of Microbiology, Associate Dean of KMC Manipal  is the co-ordinator for CETD and this initiative was started on 1^st September 2017.  CETD act as a center of reference in the country for selected emerging and tropical diseases. Improve surveillance and awareness among the population regarding selected emerging and tropical diseases. It has been selected as POC test evaluation and validation by Inbios International, Settle, USA.

Department of Microbiology along with Hospital Infection control committee, KMC, Manipal was involved in development of educational video for performing COVID antigen test for the benefit of healthcare workers in August 2020. The link for the same is https://youtu.be/XFLJHk_9-fo

Click here to view

Address

Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/M8f5GPWDAxyc3dx18
Email: microbio.kmc@manipal.edu

Phone Number: +91- 820- 2922717