Study of the intestinal microflora -Testing the efficacy of probiotics (Module 5 - advanced)

Topic I: “ The Probiotic Concept”: a general overview of the concept of probiosis and functional foods. This topic analyse the three fundamental aspects of probiotic strains selection: safety aspects, functional aspects and technological aspects. Topic II. “ Probiotic Genera”: provides basic knowledge of the most important probiotic genera and species: metabolism, habitats, and probiotic potential. Moreover also some emerging probiotic microorganisms are described. Topic III “ Probiotics: for who?”: describes the prospective target groups for probiotic use. Infants and the elderly are interesting targets for probiotic therapy application. There are several disorders that affect these two groups and traditional remedies cause often side effects, mostly because of the frailty of their immune system. Topic IV “Probiotics: possible Mechanisms and Activities in different body sites”: describes some of the possible molecular mechanisms for probiotic efficacy and describes also the possible applications of probiotic microorganisms in different parts of the human body: oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract and urogenital tract. Provides also some evidences of the most effective strains in these different sites. Topic V “Engineerization and drug delivery system ─Genetically Manipulated (GM) probiotics”: provides basic knowledge of the possible genetic manipulations of probiotic microorganisms, new tools for medicine to fight diseases.