Young Investigator Awardees 2010


Antonio Oliver and Jesus V. Guinea Ortega were selected to reward their high scientific achievements.

Antonio Oliver born 1973 in Madrid, Spain; PhD, Clinical Microbiologist
at Son Dureta Hospital and Associate Professor of the University of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, in recognition of his outstanding contributions regarding the frequency of hypermutable Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis lung infection and antimicrobial resistance in P. aeruginosa and extended-spectrum betalactamases in Enterobacteriaceae.

Research Interests
Antonio Oliver completed his residency in Clinical Microbiology (2001) and PhD (2002) at Ramón y Cajal Hospital (Madrid, Spain), under supervision by Rafael Cantón, Jesús Blázquez, and Fernando Baquero. Since 2002, he leads the Research Group of the Microbiology Department of Son Dureta Hospital (Palma de Mallorca), run by José L. Pérez. For over 10 years his research has focused on antimicrobial resistance mechanisms and bacterial adaptation, with special interest in Pseudomonas aeruginosa chronic respiratory infections, such as those occurring in cystic fibrosis. His most outstanding contributions include the discovery of the important role of hypermutable (mutator) strains in antibiotic resistance development and persistence of chronic infections. He has also notably contributed to the genetic basis of antimicrobial resistance in P. aeruginosa, particularly beta-lactam resistance driven by the hyperproduction of the chromosomal cephalosporinase AmpC, characterizing the roles of 3 ampD genes (ampD, ampDh2, and ampDh3), Penicillin-Binding Protein 4 (PBP4), and the two-component regulator CreBC (BlrAB).

Jesús V. Guinea Ortega born 1972 in Elda (Alicante), Spain; Microbiology Specialist and Researcher in clinical mycology at the Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department of ‘Gregorio Marañón’ University Hospital (Madrid) in recognition of his outstanding achievements on different aspects of clinical mycology, including the diagnosis of invasive fungal infections, antifungal susceptibility testing, epidemiology of invasive fungal infections, and molecular epidemiology of Aspergillus fumigatus.

Research Interests
Jesús V. Guinea Ortega’s research has focused on different aspects of invasive fungal infections. He has performed studies on antifungal susceptibility
testing of different mould and yeast species, and has assayed new strategies for rapid determination of antifungal susceptibility. His work has also alerted to the increasing number of non-haematological patients suffering from invasive aspergillosis. His most outstanding contribution to medical mycology has been the study of the association between environmental Aspergillus conidia and patients. The ubiquitous nature of Aspergillus means that contact between Aspergillus and patients is almost constant. He has performed a study to define
‘normal’ and ‘high’ environmental levels of Aspergillus conidia over a wide geographic area (the province of Madrid, Spain). One of his latest studies
used genotyping to provide epidemiological evidence of high levels of airborne Aspergillus conidia and the appearance of new cases of invasive
aspergillosis.