Rapid Detection of Carbapenemase Activity in Carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPO) using MALDI-TOF

The increasing emergence of carbapenem-resistant organisms (CRO), including Enterobacterales (CRE), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA) and Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), is a major public health threat.

The modified carbapenem inactivation method (mCIM) is a reference method that is widely used in clinical and public health laboratories to detect carbapenemase production; however, it is time-consuming and not suitable for detecting carbapenemases in A. baumannii. New methods that can rapidly detect extended carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPO) including A. baumannii are essential for effective infection prevention and control.

Join Dr. Chunye Lu, Antibiotic Resistance Testing Laboratory Supervisor at CDPH, and Vida Mofidi, Senior Public Health Microbiologist with OCPHL Special Pathogens department, for an informational webinar as they discuss the validation and implementation of a novel assay for the detection of CPO using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS).

• Provide background information on the importance of CRO and CPO
• Review currently available phenotypic tests for CPO
• Summarize results from MBT STAR^®-Carba Kit
• Discuss implementation of the MBT STAR^®-Carba Kit into the CPO testing workflow

For Research Use Only. Not for use in clinical diagnostic procedures. Please contact your local representative for availability in your country.

Chunye Lu, PhD, MSc, PHM

Antibiotic Resistance Testing Laboratory Supervisor, Bacterial Diseases Section, Microbial Diseases Laboratory, California Department of Public Health

Chunye is currently a research scientist supervisor at the California Department of Public Health. She is one of the original scientists in the CA State lab who helped establish the antimicrobial resistant testing in the state lab. She led the validation/verification/implementation of multiple antimicrobial resistant testing methods. Chunye received her PhD in Genetics from University of California, Davis, with a focus on molecular biology of human genetic diseases. She completed a postdoc fellowship in molecular virology at UCSF, working on HIV and endogenous retroviruses/retrotransposons. She has been a certified Public Health Microbiologist since 2016.

Vida Mofidi M.P.H., M(ASCP)CM

Senior Public Health Microbiologist, County of Orange Health Care Agency, Department of Public Health, Santa Ana, CA

Vida Mofidi is a lead Public Health Microbiologist in Public Health Laboratory Special Bacteriology Unit at County of Orange Health Care Agency. She earned her Bachelor of Science in medical microbiology from California State University Long Beach and her Master of Public Health from California State University Fullerton. Vida has more than 27 years of experience in various Microbiology fields. Vida has been involved in many validation studies including MALDI-TOF, MBT STAR-Carba, GeneXpert Carba-R, and NG-Test CARBA-5. She has been instrumental in creating and implementing a standardized multidisciplinary CPO workflow at OCPH Laboratory.