- Evolution of microorganisms and their classification.
- The structure and function of the components of the Gram-positive bacteria wall: cytoplasmic membrane,
peptidoglycan, theichoic acids, polysaccharides, proteins.
- The structure and function of Gram-negative bacteria wall components: cytoplasmic membrane, peptidoglycan, periplasmic space, outer membrane, lipoproteins, lipopolysaccharides
- Simple and differential stains in bacteriology.
- The structure and function of the optional components of the bacterial cell: capsule, flagella, fimbriae
- The bacterial spore: structure, sporogenesis, germination, significance
- Metabolism and bacterial nutrition
- The cultivation of bacteria: the culture media; isolation methods in pure culture; biochemical, serological and typing identifications
- Bacterial growth at cellular and population level (growth curve)
- The pathogenic action of bacteria: the mechanisms to overcome non- specific barriers and to circumvent specific defenses - - Bacterial toxins
- Control of microbial growth: mechanism of the antimicrobial action of temperature, radiation, ultrasound (sterilization and tindalization); alcohols, halogens, surfactants, phenols, aldehydes (disinfection)
- Bacterial genetics: the plasticity of the bacterial genome (plasmids, insertion sequences, transposons, invertible elements, mutations); the intercellular transfer of genetic material (transformation, transduction, lysogenic conversion, bacterial conjugation)
- Mechanisms of action of antibiotics and chemotherapeutics
- Mechanisms of antibiotic-resistance
- Antimicrobial susceptibility testing
- Prevention of infectious diseases: vaccines
- General features of fungi, control of fungal infection: antifungal drugs
- Microbiological diagnosis of infection: pre-analytic phase (collection, storage, transport and acceptance of biological sample)