Invited plenary lecture entitled "Dishwashers - a man-made ecological niche accommodating human opportunistic fungal pathogens"at the "Workshop Hygiene requirements and measurements in dishwashing", University of Bonn, Household and Appliance Technology Section, Bonn, Germany, represented a scientific break through in the field of microbiology of house appliances, that were considered so far too extreme to be permanently populated by a consistent microbial flora. It has awoken the interest of industry, medical doctors and researchers from the area of home hygiene and opened the research field of "domestic extremophiles".
B.04 Guest lecture
COBISS.SI-ID: 3101007The contribution describes the spreading of black yeasts in dishwashers and physiological limits that determine their growth and spreading, both on liquid and solid media. Only by determination of their physiological boundaries we can influence or prevent their growth and look for relevant solutions for technical improvements of dishwashers.
F.07 Improvements to an existing product
COBISS.SI-ID: 600360Dishwashers were presented as breeding ground of opportunistic pathogenic fungi, particularly black yeasts of the genus Exophiala. Conditions in the dishwasher are becoming due due to ecological constraints increasingly mild, consequentially causing particularly enrichment of thermotolerant pathogenic species and deminishing the number of mesophilic, competitive species.
F.18 Transfer of new know-how to direct users (seminars, fora, conferences)
COBISS.SI-ID: 30430681Interview with the principal investigator of the project prof. Nina Gunde - Cimerman was published in the biggest Slovenian daily newspaper Delo. The journalist exposed the importance of the discovery of the human opportunistic pathogenic fung in dishwashers, global impact of the news and the spread of these fungi in dishwashers around the world. It was reported that these fungi enter dishwashers via tap water, become enriched and spread from dishwashers into the kitchen environment.
F.02 Acquisition of new scientific knowledge
COBISS.SI-ID: 3235407In the lecture presented at the University of Trieste, Italy, PI of the project presented results of research on extremophilic fungi, which inhabit at first sight completely different habitats such as hypersaline waters of the salterns, Arctic glaciers and house appliances. In spite of their differences, all three environments have in common fluctuations in water activity, either due to chemically bound water in relation to dissolved salts (salterns), low temperatures (glaciers) or intermittent drying (dishwashers). Microorganisms that thrive most in this stressful conditions are polyextremotolerant black yeasts, which display common adaptations on the molecular level. These adaptations enable switch from extreme environments to humans as hosts. Three model organisms were presented: Hortaea werneckii (salterns), Aureobasidum subglaciale (glaciers) and Exophiala dermatitidis (dishwashers).
B.05 Guest lecturer at an institute/university
COBISS.SI-ID: 3399759