Rigorous cleaning and full protective clothing are unnecessary when entering the CCUG laboratory near Sahlgrenska University Hospital, according to Liselott Svensson Stadler, deputy director at CCUG. The lab only requires lab coats and no respirators or gloves when handling bacteria, as very few bacteria are contagious from plates. Despite its unassuming appearance, the CCUG laboratory holds over 20 percent of all described and named bacterial species in the world. The lab receives bacteria samples from other microbiology labs worldwide and primarily in Sweden, which are grown, tested, and sequenced to determine bacterial species. The lab has an ongoing archive of bacteria, which are sold to labs worldwide for quality control, research, and the development of new diagnostics. The archive consists of hundreds of thousands of freeze-dried ampoules of bacteria stored for several decades in cold rooms to be cultivated later. The CCUG lab celebrates when it discovers completely new species, such as Scandinavium goetheborgense, and its archive is considered generally harmless.
Neither rigorous cleaning methods nor full protective clothing are required to enter the CCUG laboratory near Sahlgrenska University Hospital.
– We only wear lab coats and no respirators or gloves when we work with the bacteria, very few bacteria are contagious from plates, explains Liselott Svensson Stadler, deputy director at CCUG when DN comes to visit.
It may seem unassuming – but appearances are deceiving. Over 20 percent of all described and named bacterial species in the world can be found here. 60,000 bacterial strains and around 4,000 different bacterial species.
The lab receives samples with bacteria from other microbiology labs, above all in Sweden, but also abroad. A large part of the work in the lab involves growing the bacterial strains, performing biochemical tests and sequencing their DNA to determine their species.
Photo: Tomas Ohlsson
– If a routine lab cannot determine the species of a bacterium, because it is something new or unusual, they can send it to us to get a species determination, says Liselott Svensson Stadler.
The bacteria that species determined are not infrequently saved in the lab, if they are considered particularly interesting and are missing from the collection. The work to build up the so-called “archive” is ongoing.
– There are certain bacteria that are more sensitive, you have to pick them up maybe every ten years and make new cultures, says Sofia Cardew, who works as a biomedical analyst at the lab.
But they also sell bacteria on to labs in Sweden and around the world for quality control, research and development of new diagnostics.
– Antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing problem and our strains can be useful there, both as controls when testing for antibiotic resistance in routine labs but also in, for example, research for the development of new methods or new antibiotics, says Liselott Svensson Stadler.
Photo: Tomas Ohlsson
On a world map in one of the corridors you can see the different laboratories it was sold on to, marked with pins. Europe is almost completely covered, but North America, Australia, Asia and other parts of the world also have their fair share.
The archive consists of hundreds of thousands of ampoules of bacteria that have been scraped off the agar plates, packaged with a “broth”, and then freeze-dried for storage in one of the many shelf meters of small compartments in special cold rooms. Here they can be stored for several decades, and have been numbered from 1 to 76,000. The first one is still there since the lab was founded in 1968.
The freeze-dried ampoules can then be sold and cultivated in other labs.
It is not unusual for them to bring in bacteria that have not yet been identified, and on several occasions the lab has been the first to describe completely new species.
A few years ago, such a bacterium was discovered, which originally came from a patient’s wound, and which they named Scandinavium goetheborgense.
Do you usually celebrate something like this?
– Yes, if something is published there is usually a party. There is a lot of work behind it, says Sofia Cardew.
Photo: Tomas Ohlsson
The bacteria here are general considered harmless, categorized as class-1 and class 2. The more dangerous bacteria are not present in the lab, as they require special handling.
– Risk group 1 are those that can be found in food, in yogurt for example, or that are found in one’s own intestinal flora. Risk group 2 are bacteria that can make you sick, but which exist naturally and for which there is a cure, says Sofia Cardew
Class-3 infectious agents can cause more serious damage, and the possibilities to cure these are more limited. This includes, for example, tuberculosis. But these are not grown in the lab, explains Liselott Svensson Stadler.
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