The Laboratory for Bacteriology Research (LBR) is part of the department Clinical Chemistry of the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences at Ghent University, Belgium. It is located at the campus of the Ghent University Hospital, a 1000-bed university hospital. The research of the lab is focused on rapid, easy-to-apply and cheap molecular approaches for the detection, identification and quantification of bacteria and fungi in diverse clinical samples and on approaches for species identification and strain genotyping of cultured microbes. (Reverse transcription) quantitative PCR and melting curve analysis are currently the techniques that are mostly used, in combination with RAPD, FISH and sporadic deep sequencing of DNA and mRNA. Besides application in microbial diagnostics, this expertise has lead to the description of new species and genera and to the characterization of microbial communities (oral and vaginal), with a focus on chronic infection problems, such as airway infection in cystic fibrosis and bacterial vaginosis.

The lab hosts one postdoc (bacteriophage therapy), six PhDs (one working on detection of fungi in clinical samples) and one technician.