Infectious Diseases Laboratory

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About 

The University of Louisville Infectious Diseases Laboratory is a university-based, CLIA-certified, high-complexity reference laboratory located within the School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases. For over 50 years, our lab has offered diagnostic testing services to local and regional hospitals, clinics, private physician practices, long-term care facilities, and private businesses. Through these systems, we serve a population of approximately one million people in Louisville and southern Indiana and receive more than 500 samples per month.

The ID Laboratory is local to Louisville, which allows us to pick up samples quickly and offer rapid turnaround for faster treatment decisions. Open communication and personal relationships allow us to provide excellent customer service and maintain an understanding of testing needs in our community.

Additionally, we assist with ongoing clinical research initiatives by providing epidemiological data, community tracking, and managing the Infectious Diseases Biorepository. Our biobank stores more than 70,000 human specimens, including urine, blood, sputum, oral and nasopharyngeal swabs, and pathogenic isolates. All samples are linked to complete clinical data. Our experts can provide consultation and quick turnaround for the routine shipping of biological specimens to national and international health system leaders for research projects.

Key Research Areas

  • Community Acquired Pneumonia, Prevalence, Treatments, and Prevention
  • Surveillance, Testing, and Treatments for Atypical Pneumonia
  • Severe Influenza Pneumonia Surveillance (SIPS)
  • Efficacy of a 20-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, RSV Vaccine, and SARS Covid-19 Vaccine
  • Surveillance of Streptococcus pneumoniae serogroups/serotypes in Louisville Metropolitan Area
  • Meningococcal Carriage Among New College Admissions
  • Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Colonization and Humoral Immunity
  • Accuracy of Pathogen- and Host-directed testing for the Diagnosis of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP)
  • Long-term Health Consequences of COVID-19
  • Explore improved Methods for studying diseased lungs, New treatments, and Therapies for Inflammatory Lung Disease (Ex-Vivo Lung Perfusion)
  • Surveillance study to determine the burden of incidence of diarrhea infection attributed by Clostridioides difficile in the Louisville Metropolitan Area

Team

Parrish, Leslie Wolf, PhD HCLD (ABB)
Assistant Clinical Professor
Director, Infectious Diseases Laboratory
leslie.wolf@louisville.edu

Marimuthu, Subathra, PhD MB (ASCP)
Assistant Clinical Professor
Manager, Infectious Diseases Biorepository
subathra.marimuthu@louisville.edu

Schindler, Laura Greenburg, MT (ASCP)
Manager, Infectious Diseases Laboratory
lschindler@louisville.edu

Garr, Stephanie Sabrena, MT (ASCP)
Senior Medical Technologist
s.garr@louisville.edu

Garth, Karen Campbell, MT (ASCP)
Senior Medical Technologist
karen.garth@louisville.edu

Aliesky, Holly
Research Technologist
holly.aliesky@louisville.edu

Czerkiewicz, Bailey
Laboratory Technician
bailey.czerkiewicz@louisville.edu

Our Work

  • May 2024-Present - ARLG Pneumonia Direct Pilot Study: Prospective, observational, diagnostic, feasibility study to determine the accuracy of pathogen- and host-directed testing for the diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Approximately 250 adult patients admitted to the intensive care unit and intubated for at least 48 hours for reasons other than bacterial pneumonia. The primary objective is to evaluate the accuracy of novel pathogen-directed and host-directed diagnostic tests (collectively referred to as index tests) when the reference standard is a clinical diagnosis of VAP in participants who experience a clinical change suggestive of new-onset pneumonia.
    This is an observational study involving dedicated blood draws in conjunction with the collection of dedicated research aliquots of Endotracheal Suction (ETS) samples from SOC procedures, reclamation of leftover BAL samples at the time they would otherwise be discarded based on standard laboratory procedures, and collection of clinical bacterial isolates (respiratory and blood). Clinical data will be recorded through medical record review.
    The Infectious Diseases Biorepository receives study samples including blood, ETS, BAL, and bacterial isolates, processes those samples per the manual of procedures (MOP) and freezes them (at least -70 °C) before being shipped to a central laboratory that will then ship specimens to various testing centers for index testing.
  • January 2023-Present - A 20-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (20vPnC) Study: A phase 4 multicenter effectiveness study conducted at investigator hospital sites across the United States. This study is a post-approval evaluation of the effectiveness of a 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate (20vPnC) vaccine against vaccine-type (VT) radiologically confirmed community acquired pneumonia (RAD+CAP) in adults ≥ 65 years of age using a test negative design. The primary objective of the study is to determine vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 20vPnC against RAD+CAP caused by the 7 additional serotypes contained in 20vPnC beyond licensed 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (13vPnC; serotypes 8, 10A, 11A, 12F, 15B, 22F, and 33F) plus 15C among adults ≥65 years of age. Unlike for pediatric 13vPnC use, where immunization coverage is high, adult 13vPnC coverage is consistently <80% among US adults aged ≥65 years. As such, this provides an opportunity for determining vaccine effectiveness while controlling for potentially confounding variables in the analysis.
    The UofL Division of Infectious Diseases CERID team collected urine from study participants. The samples were processed, aliquoted, stored, and shipped to the study sponsor by the ID Biorepository. In addition, Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates were grown, stored, and shipped to Baylor College of Medicine for confirmation, serotype, or serogroup testing and antibiotic resistance. Aliquots and isolates were also stored on-site in the Infectious Diseases Biorepository.
  • December 2020-Present - NIH SARS-CoV-2 Breath Analysis Study: An NIH-funded project between the University of Louisville Vaccine & International Travel Clinic, the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine to develop a non-invasive handheld tool to detect COVID-19 (SARS CoV-2) in breath samples. The ID Clinical Laboratory participated by testing NP samples collected by the Travel Clinic for SARS CoV-2 by PCR. Breath samples were also collected into a bag or tool. The breath metabolite was transferred from the bag into either chip or cartridge. The metabolite was then eluted from the chip, cartridge, and tool by the ID Biorepository using an organic solvent then further analyzed at the UL Bioengineering Laboratory.
  • 2020-Present - Post COVID-19 Research Clinic: A multi-disciplinary collaboration between the Louisville community and the Center of Excellence for Research in Infectious Diseases (CERID) at the University of Louisville Division of Infectious Diseases to study the long-term health consequences of COVID-19. Our principal investigator, Jiapeng Huang, MD, from the Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, received funding from Gilead Sciences to study cardiovascular and pulmonary long-term effects of COVID-19 using point-of-care ultrasound. The ID Biorepository received whole blood, plasma, serum, and urine samples to be processed and stored on-site. Some samples were shipped off-site to another laboratory for further studies.
  • 2019-Present - Ex-vivo Lung Perfusion Study: A collaboration with the UofL Cardiovascular Institute (CII) to explore improved methods for studying diseased lungs, new treatments, and therapies for inflammatory lung disease. The Ex-vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP) system is used not only for research to extend the viability of donated lungs, but explore new focus areas related to pneumonia, COPD, and cancer. A pig model of ventilator-associated pneumonia was developed by establishing an effective dose of an organism commonly associated with severe pneumonia. The ID Laboratory grew Staphylococcus aureus ATCC #12600 and prepared inoculums for the CII team. Baseline, Day 3, Day 6, Day 9, and Post EVLP BAL samples were submitted to the ID laboratory and analyzed for growth of S. aureus. Reports of growth were generated by the ID laboratory staff after each BAL submission.

Infectious Diseases Laboratory

School of Medicine

Website about

Phone

502-852–1152

Location

Delia B. Baxter Biomedical Research Building (II)
580 South Preston Street
South Pod: Room 102
Louisville, Kentucky 40202

Email