National Reference Laboratory for Staphylococci
26 June 2024 | Monika Havlíčková, M.Sc., Ph.D.
The NRL is accredited to ČSN EN ISO 15189 as a public health laboratory by the Czech Accreditation Institute.
Head: Monika Havlíčková, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Deputy Head: Jan Bílý, M.Sc., Ph.D.
The NRL was established in the beginning of the 60s by Prof. Raška as the NRL for Typing of Staphylococci (first headed by RNDr. PhMr. Věra Matějovská, CSc.) and was appointed as the NRL for Staphylococci by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic on 13 December 1991.
- performs the identification in more detail and typing of these strains using both phenotypic and genotypic methods and MALDI-TOF MS. The NRL focuses on the causative agents of serious invasive infections (toxic shock syndrome, exfoliative dermatitis, infections caused by Panton-Valentine leukocidin-producing S. aureus strains);
- performs confirmatory diagnostic testing based on the detection of genes encoding virulence factors as important information for confirming the clinical diagnosis and determining a timely and adequate therapy;
- monitors, in cooperation with epidemiologists, serious cases caused by toxigenic staphylococci in the Czech Republic and maintains the collection of toxigenic strains for further analysis;
- performs phenotypic and genotypic analyses of hospital strains of staphylococci involved in hospital infections (blister formation in neonates, etc.);
- cooperates with the NRL – Czech National Collection of Typed Cultures (CNCTC) in the verification of ancient collection cultures and in the External Quality Control (EQC);
- cooperates with the Institute of Experimental Biology and the Czech Collection of Microorganisms of the Faculty of Science of the Masaryk University in Brno in the completion of grant projects in the area of staphylococcal research. It participates in the characterization and description of new species of staphylococci isolated from clinical material.