research

Reseach of the Department of Microbiology

The main focus of the research

  • Neonatal infections: virulence markers of causative agents, optimization of neonatal sepsis treatment and prevention regimens; pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and modeling of antibiotic therapy, clinical trials
  • HIV infection in Estonia: prevalence in populations, viral resistance markers, the relationship between the virus and the host, co-infections, human and viral genetic factors influencing HIV infection
  • Human microbiome from birth to death and its link to health: microbial communities in the gastrointestinal and reproductive tract, mouth and skin; their disorders in various infectious and non-infectious diseases
  • Biotechnological solutions for health: development of novel probiotics and synbiotics in laboratory and clinical trials
  • Antibiotic resistance: prevalence of resistance, factors influencing the development of resistance, prevention of the development of resistance, rational use of antibiotics
  • Monitoring of vaccine-preventable diseases: epidemiological changes over time, modeling

Grants

Current most important cooperation

In Estonia – various institutions and clinics of Tartu University Hospital (men's clinic, women's clinic, surgery clinic, children's clinic, dermatology clinic, internal clinic, dental clinic, ear clinic, joint laboratory, infection control service), UT BSMI Department of Biochemistry, UT Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, UT Estonian Gene Bank, UT Chair of Social Policy in the field of social sciences, UT Institute of Physics, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn University, East Tallinn Central Hospital, West Tallinn Central Hospital, North Estonian Regional Hospital, Institute for Health Development, Estonian University of Life Sciences.

Internationally – Cargill Europe (Belgium); Probi AB (Sweden); University of Turku (Finland); Karolinska Institutet (Sweden); University of Granada (Spain); University Colleage of London, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London (UK); Penta Foundation (Italy); c4c Network; The BARN and enilabAMR network includes clinics in many European countries as part of an international drug resistance study.

Entrepreneurship – Synlab Eesti OÜ, Tere AS, Tervisetehnoloogiate Arenduskeskus AS, BioCC OÜ, Food and Fermentation Technology Development Center, Perfect Cosmetics OÜ, Andre Juustufarm OÜ.

Data and biomaterial collections

The five most important publications in the last five years

  1. Molina NM, Canha-Gouveia A, Leonés-Baños I, Sola-Leyva A, Vargas E, Ruíz-Durán S, Tenorio CM, Clavero-Gilabert A, Mändar R, Altmäe S. The complementary seminovaginal microbiome in health and disease. Reprod Biomed Online. 2025 May;50(5):104707. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2024.104707.
  2. Mutli E, Mändar R, Koort K, Salumets A, Team EBR, Laisk T. Genome-wide association study in Estonia reveals importance of vaginal epithelium associated genes in case of recurrent vaginitis. J Reprod Immunol. 2024 Mar;162:104216. doi: 10.1016/j.jri.2024.104216.
  3. Saar M, Vaikjärv R, Parm Ü, Kasenõmm P, Kõljalg S, Sepp E, Jaagura M, Salumets A, Štšepetova J, Mändar R. Unveiling the etiology of peritonsillar abscess using next generation sequencing. Ann Clin Microbiol Antimicrob. 2023 Nov 8;22(1):98. doi: 10.1186/s12941-023-00649-0.
  4. Soeorg H, Päll T, Abroi A, Avi R, Sadikova O, Härma MA, Reisberg T, Lutsar I, Huik K. The effect of policy measures, school holidays and travel on the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and adults in Estonia from 2021 to 2022. PLoS One. 2025 Jul 3;20(7):e0327719. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0327719. eCollection 2025. PMID: 40608757
  5. Päll T, Abroi A, Avi R, Niglas H, Shablinskaja A, Pauskar M, Jõgeda EL, Soeorg H, Kallas E, Lahesaare A, Truusalu K, Hoidmets D, Sadikova O, Ratnik K, Sepp H, Dotsenko L, Epštein J, Suija H, Kaarna K, Smit S, Milani L, Metspalu M, Oopkaup OE, Koppel I, Jaaniso E, Kuzmin I, Inno H, Raudvere U, Härma MA, Naaber P, Reisberg T, Peterson H, Talas UG, Lutsar I, Huik K. SARS-CoV-2 clade dynamics and their associations with hospitalisations during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One. 2024 May 10;19(5):e0303176. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303176. eCollection 2024. PMID: 38728305