About us
The Department of Microbiology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Maribor was established in 2005 and has since then been headed by prof. dr. Maja Rupnik. The team is active in both teaching and research, while no diagnostic activities are performed. The department is strongly linked with the Centre for Medical Microbiology at the National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food (NLZOH), especially with the Department for Microbiological Research.
The research work is carried out in two major research strands: Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile and microbiota studies associated with host and the environment. All our research activities ultimately converge to collectively address the One Health approach to microbiome studies. Other involvements of the department are wide-ranging and include authorships in book chapters, original and review scientific publications, peer-reviewed articles, and editorships of national books on the popularisation of science. Our publications can be found in top journals in the field such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Lancet Infectious Diseases, Clinical Microbiology and Infection and Nature Reviews Microbiology.
Our team
Head of the department
Dr. Maja Rupnik
Team
Dr. Sandra Janežič
Dr. Valerija Tkalec
Dr. Aleksander Mahnič
Dr. Nejc Stopnišek
Tanja Vrabič
Sabina Mlakar
Tanja Žlender
Other collaborators. dr. Andrej Golle, M.D., Andrej Kraševac Glaser, M.D., Urška Kramar, M.D. and Barbara Janžič, M.D..
Courses offered at the Department
- Microbiology with immunology in the general medicine programme
- Microbiology, immunology, and oral microbiology in the dental medicine programme
- Human microbiota in the postgraduate course Biomedical technology
- Microbial Pathogenesis in the postgraduate diploma in Biomedical technology
Ongoing projects
Research assignments for students
Student involvement is an important aspect of our research work. To date, the following research work has been completed:- Tilen Seničar, Andraž Kukovičič; 2021. Gluten-degrading intestinal bacteria (supervisor, prof. dr. Maja Rupnik, co-supervisor, dr. Jernej Dolinšek, M.D.), 2021; recipients of the Dean's award, the Krka award and the Perlach award, published in Microorganisms, 2021;
- Ines Blaževič. Work in 2014; co-author of Possible contribution of shoes to Clostridioides difficile transmission within hospitals, Clinical microbiology and infection, 2021 (supervisor, dr. Maja Rupnik);
- Špela Pintar. Isolation and characterisation of Clostridium difficile in hospitalised patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease, 2017 (supervisor, dr. Maja Rupnik, co- supervisor, prof. dr. Pavel Skok, M.D.); Dean's award; published in Frontiers in Microbiology 2022;
- Matija Primec. Molecular and phenotypic characterisation of staphylococci isolated from chronic wounds, 2019 (supervisor, dr. Maja Rupnik, co- supervisor, Vesna Breznik, M.D.); Dean's award.
We also annually host students from international exchanges organised by the International Federation of Medical Student's Associations (IFMSA).
Completed PhDs
- Dr. Božena Kotnik Kevorkijan. Epidemiological and microbiological approaches for HAI surveillance at the University clinical center Maribor, 2019.
- Dr. Sabina Horvat. Interactions between various strains of Clostridium difficile and gut microbiota: PhD thesis, 2019.
- Dr. Andrej Golle. Molecular characterisation of carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from patients and the environment, 2019.
- Dr. Jure Škraban. Interactions of Clostridium difficile with gut microbiota: PhD thesis, 2013.
Organisation of congresses and workshops
The following events have been organised within the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ljubljana:
- 2nd International Clostridium difficile Symposium (ICDS), 6-9 June 2007, Maribor;
- Workshop 'Clostridium difficile - from culture to molecular methods', 3-5 September 2007;
- Symposium 'Importance, frequency and control of Clostridium difficile infections', 18.4.2013, Brdo pri Kranju;
- ESCMID Postgraduate Technical Workshops (PGTW) 'Clostridium difficile: Practical aspects of typing and comparative genomics', 2-4 September 2015; collaboration with AGES, Vienna, Austria;
- 5th Congress of the Slovenian Microbiological Society with international participation, 12-15 October 2015, Maribor;
- 2nd Slovenian Microbiome Network Symposium 2023, 30 November - 1 December 2023.