Welcome!
The Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Isolate Core provides several services to both academic and industry CF researchers. The core is a part of the Cystic Fibrosis Microbiology Outcomes Advancement Core (MOAC) at Seattle Children’s and the University of Washington and is funded by a CF Foundation grant to the UW and Seattle Children's. The core previously received funding from a NIH NIDDK P30 grant to Seattle Children's (NIH P30 DK089507). The services offered by the core include:
CF respiratory bacterial isolates:
Seattle Children's has been archiving clinical and research isolates for more than 30 years. The collection contains thousands of isolates from patients at the pediatric and adult CF centers at Seattle Children's and the University of Washington Medical Center. Species represented include Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia cepacia complex, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Achromobacter species, and Staphylococcus aureus (both methicillin sensitive and resistant isolates) and others.
Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) testing against CF bacterial isolates:
We offer standardized MIC determination of test compounds against CF bacterial isolates based on the CLSI microbroth dilution methods.
Biofilm inhibitory concentration (BIC) testing against CF bacterial isolates:
Biofilm inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination will be performed by culturing biofilms on a plastic surface, followed by antibiotic treatment in broth microdilution. The method is described in Moskowitz, et al, J Clin Microbiol, 42:1915-1922, 2004.
Sputum Binding (Killing Curve) Assay:
Bacterial killing curves with a compound of interest will be performed in the presence of cystic fibrosis patient sputum in order to determine if the drug/compound is inactivated by sputum. This assay is described in King, et al, Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 54:143-8, 2010.
Auxillary services include:
Data requests. This includes both database queries for anonymized clinical data linked to bacterial isolates and/or database queries to identify multiple bacteria with specific clinical criteria.
Data reports. A report outlining the procedures, results and discussion of the context of results for any of the tests above.
If you are interested in more information about bacterial isolates that may be available or more details about testing services offered, we encourage you to contact the CF Isolate Core by email.
Rafael Hernandez | Core Director
