ESCMID/bioMérieux Awardee 2008
In recognition of excellence and major contributions to progress in clinical microbiology by a young scientist from Eastern Europe, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and bioMérieux are proud to announce the recipient of this Research Grant in Clinical Microbiology in 2008:
Ivan Nikolaev Ivanov
born 1978 in Sofia, Bulgaria; researcher at the National Reference Centre for Diagnosis and Control of Nosocomial Infections, Sofia, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to improving PCR assays for rapid detection and typing of microbial DNA in clinical and environmental samples. He improved molecular techniques for studying pathogens such as Bacillus anthracis, Francisella tularensis, Yersinia pestis and Brucella spp. and was pivotal in mastering a recent brucellosis outbreak in Bulgaria.
Research Interests
Ivan Ivanov’s research interests are mainly in the field of molecular detection and typing of bacterial biothreat agents, in particular Bacillus anthracis, Francisella tularensis and Brucella spp. He has introduced a number of PCR methods for detection and typing of these pathogens including AFLP, MLVA, PCR-RFLP etc. These techniques proved very useful in the investigation of two recent outbreaks of tularemia and brucellosis in Bulgaria. Currently, he is studying the molecular diversity among B. anthracis and Brucella spp. strains by applying the high-resolution MLVA technique. These studies revealed some novel undescribed genotypes of B. anthracis in Bulgaria.
Apart from the above, Ivan Ivanov is also involved in a number of molecular studies regarding nosocomial pathogens. Currently he works at the newly founded Reference Center for Nosocomial Infections where he is responsible for the molecular characterization of nosocomial strain collections and the establishment of activities in the molecular lab unit.
