Curriculum vitae

 

Personal information
First name(s) / Surname(s) Mariana Carmen Chifiriuc (maiden name Balotescu)
Address(es) Spl. Independentei 91-95, Bucharest, Romania
Telephone(s) 00403181576/int. 15
E-mail carmen_balotescu@yahoo.com
Nationality Romanian
Date of birth 4 September 1974
Gender female
Work experience
Date 2003-present
Occupation or position held Lecturer (2003-2007), Associate Professor (2007-2013), Full Professor (2013-present), PhD supervisor (since 2014); Coordinator of the Life, Environmental and Earth Science Division of the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest
Name and address of employer

Main activities and responsibilities

 

 University of Bucharest, Faculty of Biology, Ale. Portocalelor 1-3, 60101 Bucharest, Romania

Courses and practical works: General microbiology, Immunobiology, Medical microbiology (undergraduate students), Medical bacteriology, Medical Micology, Novel antimicrobial strategies, Immunogenetics (Master and PhD students), Standardized microbiological control of water, food, air and pharmaceutical products (Master and PhD students), Clinical Immunology (Master and PhD students)

Practical works: Immunobiology, Microbiology (undergraduate students), Clinical Immunology, Medical microbiology (Master and PhD students), Microbiology (postuniversitary training)

Annual post-universitary courses of medical bacteriology for biologists, biochemists and chemists working in the Romanian Sanitary System  in cooperation with OBBCSSR (Romanian Order of Biologists, Biochemists and Chemists Working in the Sanitary System)

Supervisor of graduation, Master and PhD works (cca 20 theses/year).
Date 1997-2013 (1997-2003 full time)
Occupation or position held

Main activities and responsibilities

 

 Microbiologist

Microbial diagnosis of Vibrionaceae family, National Data Manager for EARSS (European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System), member in the research team of the laboratory undergoing projects of the laboratory concerning the investigation by phenotypic and genetic tools of the Vibrionaceae family members; implementation of new methods for the investigation of toxigenicity and virulence potential, standardization of antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Vibrio isolates.
Name and address of employer National Institute for Research and Development in Microbiology and Immunology Cantacuzino

National Reference Center for Cholera and other Vibrios/Enteric infections
Education and training
Dates

 

 

 

 

 

 2011-2012- Sept-May

Continuous “Blended Learning” Training for University teaching – MII- Student centered learning – strategies for projecting, implementation and evaluation of educational process. M2.2. Educational strategies centered on students POSDRU/57/1.3/S/26646

 

 
Dates

Title of qualification awarded

 2000-2005

 PhD degree – Host-parasite relationship. Opportunistic infections in HIV-infected patients
Principal subjects/occupational skills covered conventional and complementary techniques used for the bacterial, parasitic, viral, fungal infections diagnosis in HIV infected patients, as well as for the investigation of their pathogenic potential.
Name and type of organisation providing education and training University of Bucharest, Faculty of Biology
Level in national or international classification First place in Class A
Dates 1999-2000
Title of qualification awarded Pasteur Institutes Network research fellowship
Principal subjects/occupational skills covered Elucidation of the Blastocystis hominis, Entamoeba sp.: statute as primary or opportunistic pathogens in HIV/AIDS patients; Detection of Entamoeba histolytica/dispar complex using Entamoeba and Entamoeba histolytica II ELISA Techlab kits.
Name and type of organisation providing education and training Pasteur Institute of Bangui, Central African Republic
Dates 2000 (3 months)
Title of qualification awarded Certificate Equivalent to DEA (Diplome des Etudes Aproffondis)
Principal subjects/occupational skills covered Medical Bacteriology Advanced Course
Name and type of organisation providing education and training Pasteur Institute of Paris, France
Date 1997-1999
Title of qualification awarded Master studies
Principal subjects/occupational skills covered Taxonomy
Name and type of organisation providing education and training University of Bucharest, Faculty of Biology
Date

Title of qualification awarded

 1992-1997

Diploma in Biology, Specialization Medical Biology
Principal subjects/occupational skills covered Title of graduation work: Microbial adherence to eukariotic HEp-2 and HeLa cells
Name and type of organisation providing education and training University of Bucharest, Faculty of Biology
Date

Title of qualification awarded

Name and type of organisation providing education and training

 

 

Specialization courses and trainings

 1988-1992

Certificate of Medical Assistant

Sanitary Secondary School of Pitesti

 

 

CEFOR courses (Centre de Formation des Enseignants dans le Domaine de Sciences de la Vie) :  Microbiology, Immunology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Bucharest, 1997, 2002 ; CEFOR II-TEMPUS: Microbiology, Statistics in Biology, Bucharest, 1997; International course: Update in Clinical Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases– American Foundation for Medical Education, Bucharest, 1998 ; Workshop: Antibiotic resisatance in lung and EET infections, Bactro & Augmentin Bis, Budapest 1998; Advanced Course: Medical Bacteriology –  Pasteur Institute, Paris, France, January -April 2000; PhD fellowship: Maladies opportunistes chez des malades immunodeprimes, Pasteur Institute Bangui, Central African Republic, March- December 1999; International Postuniversitary Course: From molecular biology to 21st Century Medicine  Bucharest, 2001; 2nd, 3rd Workshops of National Data Managers of EARSS, Bilthoven, 2001; 2004; 18th ESCMID Postgraduation Course: Characterization, Molecular Biology and Epidemiology of  beta-lactamases, Italy, 2002; Intensive Course of Bioinformatics: National Excellence Center for Microbiology, Biotechnology and Microbial Genetics, Bucharest, Romania, 2002; 1st ESCMID Summer School of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2002; Workshop: Mycology without tears: tolls and techniques for demystifying fungal identifications, Bucharest, 2003; Data mining and Data managing workshop, Bilthoven, Holland, 2006; EARSS data managers workshop: data analysis and interpretation with statistic tools, June 2006, RIVM, Bilthoven, Netherlands; International Workshop on Quantitative Biology, 2007 Bucharest, Romania.
Personal skills and competences
Mother tongue(s) Specify mother tongue (if relevant add other mother tongue(s), see instructions)
Other language(s)
 

 

Romanian

English, French (advanced), German (beginner)
Technical skills and competences

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scientific research production

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 investigation of antibiotic resistance at phenotypic, molecular and epidemiological level;

phenotypic and genotypic investigation of bacterial virulence;

investigation of host-infectious agents relationships by in vitro and experimental pathology assays;

assessment of novel chemical structures for their antimicrobial activity);

investigation of therapeutic or prophylactic alternatives for fighting resistant bacteria and optimizing the in vitro and in vivo methodology for their selection (i.e. probiotics, prebiotics, vegetal extracts);

study of microbial interactions with the cellular and inert substrata, in order to select biomaterials with potential use in medicine as anti-microbial/anti-biofilm surfaces;

investigation of the role of microbial signaling molecules pheromones in the bacterial cell – eukaryotic cell cross-talk;

nanotechnology in microbiology (biological tests for the evaluation of different types of nanoparticles as anti-microbial/anti-biofilm tools, as drug delivery systems, as stabilizers for unstable antimicrobial compounds, such as the essential oils);

application of flow cytometry in microbiology for antibiotic susceptibility testings and resistant populations detection;

quality assurance in microbiology.

 

Habilitation thesis: Investigation of microbial virulence and resistance reservoirs and assessment of new anti-infective therapeutic and preventive strategies

PhD thesis: Host-parasite relationship. Opportunistic infections in HIV-infected patients

 

Research projects obtained as pricipal investigator or member in the research team after obtaining the PhD degree:

Coordinator/key person:

·       6 national projects (1 Bridge, 2 Ideas, 2 CNCSIS- AT, A, 2 Human resources)

·       3 international (EARSS, PHARE, InfectEra)

Member in the research team:

·       31  national research projects

·       3 international (FP7, COST, M-ERANET)

Publications

·         First/main author-4 books, 5 chapters in books

·         Coauthor – 3 books, 5 textbooks, 1 national guide, 1 dictionary of specialty terms, 4 chapters in books (1 in national, 3 in international publishing houses), 10 patents

·         235 publications in extenso

·         >160 posters and communications with abstarcts published in proceedings of national and internaitonal congresses and meetings

Research projects:

 
 

 

 

 Participation to scientific congresses, workshops:

National

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Organisational skills and competences

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 1.       Annual participation to the National Meeting of Romanian Society of Microbiology Acad. N. Cajal Symposium, National Flow Cytometry Congress

2.        Romanian Society for Cell Biology at 25 years, Anniversary workshop “From Basic Science to Therapeutic Applications”, Bucharest 6-10 June 2007

3.        The 6th  Seminar of NanoScience and Nanotechnology, Romanian Academy, 26 March 2007

4.        Workshop PROBIOTICS – An alternative to conventional treatments , 2010

5.        National Congress UNAS (National Union of Romanian Dentists), 2009

6.        ICDPP Symposium (scientific research and development for plant protection) 2010

7.        Veterinary Medicine Simposium, Bucuresti, 2008

8.        Workshop “Medical significance of microbial biofilms”, Bucharest, November, 2008

International

1.        ECCMID- European Congress of Clinical Medicine and Infectious Diseases – annual participation during 2002- 2014

2.        Federation of European Microbiological Societies Congress (FEMS) – 2006, 2011

3.        Meeting of the Three Divisions of the International Union of Microbiological Societies, Bulgaria, 2008

4.        Microbiologia Balkanica, Bucharest, Romania, 2005

5.        Genomes 2008. Functional Genomics of Microorganisms, Paris, 8-11 April, 2008

6.        Federation of European  Biochemistry Societies Congress- 2007, 2008

7.        31st International Symposium on HPLC and Related Techniques, June, 2007

8.        VIBRIO 2007 Conference, 25 Nov. – 1 Decembrie, Paris, Franta

9.        Genetics and Mechanisms of Susceptibility to Infectious Diseases 21-24 Nov. 2007, Paris

10.     International Congress of Nosocomial Infection Prevention, Lednice, 27-29.5.2007

11.     Ist  International Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Conference on Culinary Herbs, 2007, Antalya, Turkey

12.   International congress on microbial ecology and disease (SOMED) –2007, 2010, 2011, 2012

13.     Le quatrieme colloque Franco-Roumain de Chimie Apliquee, Clermont-Ferrand, France,  2006

14.     7th International Symposium on the Biology of Acinetobacter, Palma de Majorca, 2006

15.     International Conference on Surgical Infections, 2006, Stockholm, Sweden

16.     Black Sea basin conference on analytical chemistry, 2005

17.     ROWER Workshops- 2009, 2010

18.     International Workshop on Quantitative Biology,  2007, Bucharest, Romania

19.     Data mining and Data managing workshop, Bilthoven, Holland, 2006

20.    Workshop data analysis and interpretation in Excel- EARSS datamanagers workshop, 2006, RIVM, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

 

Member in the scientific committee

Workshop “Medical significance of microbial biofilms”, 2008

CALILAB- Association for quality in laboratories

       Member of the Scientific Professional Commission for teaching and legislation-   OBBCSSR

Member of the Ministry of health Commission for Laboratory Medicine

Member in the organizing committee

1.       ICUB BIS workshops I, II, 2016

2.   NatVarClim Workshop, 2016

3. National Conference of Immunology, 2016

4. Woekshop on Pharmacogenomics, 2016

5. Workshop Who is afraid of Biostats, 2016

6. Congress of the Romanian Society of Cytometry, 2014, 2015

7.        Beginners and advanced courses of flow cytometry 2014, 2015

8.        National Conference of OBBCSSR, 2012

9.        2nd ROWER Conference on Occupational Health and Safety Economics, 2011

10.        Member in organizing committee and invited speaker “Management and quality assurance in medical laboratories. Conventional and modern microbiological and immunological methods” – Bucharest, 2007

11.        Member in organizing committee and invited speaker „Follow up QA/QC and reference laboratory’, Bucuresti, 28-30 Sept. 2005

12.        Coordinator “Quality assurance in antimicrobial susceptibility testings”,11-12 October, 2001, Bucharest, Romania, Romanian Society of Microbiology

13.         Coordinator Atelier pratique- Le diagnostic des diarrhees au cours du SIDA de l’ adulte”, Bangui, Republique Centrafricaine, 1999, Pasteur Institute of Bangui

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Invited speaker and chair in international workshops and conferences

1.       International Conference of Doctoral School of Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Galati, 2016;

2.     NatVarClim International Workshop, Bucharest, 2016;

3.  Anniversary Conference of  the Institue of BIology of the Romanian Academy, Romanian Academy, 2016;

4. European Congress of Cell Analysis (ECCCA), Lisbon, 2014;

5.        EQALM (European organization for external Quality Assurance providers for Laboratory Medicine) Symposium, Bucharest, 2013 ;

6.        2nd ROWER Conference on Occupational Health and Safety Economics; 2011;

7.        22nd ECCMID (European Congress for Clinical medicine and Infectious Diseases), London, April 2012;

5.        Conference -Diaspora in Romanian Scientific Research and Education, Bucharest, September 25-28, 2012;

8.        1st ROWER Conference on Occupational Health and Safety Economics, 2010;

9.        ROWER Workshops- 2009, 2010;

10.        New antimicrobial strategies based on the modulation of intercellular signalling mechanisms in bacteria mediated by quorum-sensing-16h International conference on control systems and computer science, “POLITEHNICA” University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania, 2007;

11.        Data mining and Data managing workshop,  Netherlands, 2006;

12.     Data analysis and interpretation in Excel- EARSS datamanagers workshop, 2006, RIVM, Bilthoven, The Netherlands;

13.     Water microbiological control, infectious diseases and public health- Seminar Schleicher and Schuell, 2002, February, Brasov,  Romania.

Member of professional associations/societies

ESCMID (European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases), EARSS (European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System), SRM (Romanian Society of Microbiology), Balkanic Medical Union, FEMS (European Federation of Microbiology Societies), Romanian Association of Flow cytometry, FEBS (Federation of Biochemistry Societies, ESCCA (European Society for Clinical Cell Analysis).

Professional visibility

·         prizes

o    The prize of the Romanian Society of Microbiology for 2 posters presented tothe Romanian Conference of Microbiology, 2007

o    The 3rd prize for the poster presented to The Anniversary Conference of the Institute of Biology – 50 years of Academic Research in Microbiology, 2010

·         National microbiology expert in the PHARE project – EuropeAid/115101/D/SV/RO.

·         Invited Editor

–          Invited guest editor- special issues for Current Organic Chemistry; Current Medicinal Chemistry; Curr Top medChem

·         Editor of national journals

 
Computer skills and competences

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Photo Editor, Access), working with databases (Whonet, EARSS), statistical analysis software (GraphPad).
      Projects Evaluator–

 

 Ideas Projects, Competitions 2008, 2012, ERA-NET, research projects within the University of Missouri system
      Hirsch index–

 

 

Artistic skills and competences

 21, >1800 citations (source: SCOPUS)

 

Archeological reproductions painting
Other skills and competences Labeling historical monument buildings from three historical cities of Romania, i.e. Bucharest, Curtea de Arges, Campulung (>500 monuments) (as Board member of APMNIR- Friends of Romanian National History Museum) (www.monumenteromania.ro); public conferences on cultural/large interest subjects (ancient Egypt, Ancient India, Feng Shui, Neolithic cultures in Romania, Romanian Renaissance, Global warming and human health, genetics, between science and philosophy, Wooden art in the Romanian traditional art, Sacred Architecture (as Member of the Cultural Association New Akropolis- www.noua-acropola.ro).
Driving licence No

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