EUCAST Development Laboratories (EDL)

EUCAST, with the support of ESCMID and ECDC and research fund contributions, has “EUCAST Development Laboratories” (The EDLs), one of them dedicated to bacteria and one to fungi. The EDL for bacteria is staffed with clinical scientists, lead by the Head of EDL and includes the EUCAST  Technical Co-ordinator. The task of the EDLs is to develop and validate methods for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) in collaboration with colleagues around the world.

The AST Development Laboratory for testing of antibacterial agents is mandated by the EUCAST Steering Committee. It is currently hosted by the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Central Hospital, Växjö, Sweden, and has been responsible for the development of the EUCAST disk diffusion method since 2008. It upholds high standards in antimicrobial susceptibility testing in general and the EUCAST disk diffusion method in particular. The reference method used by the EDL is MIC determination by the broth microdilution method (BMD) according to ISO recommendations (ISO standard 20776-1, 2019), without and with EUCAST supplements for fastidious organisms.

The EDL (Bacteria) offers the following services:

1. Development of EUCAST AST methods.
2. Development and revision of AST QC criteria for existing and new antimicrobial agents.
3. Coordination of all developmental work on aspects of AST performed by EUCAST in collaboration with the EUCAST Network Laboratories.
4. Provision of assistance to laboratories with AST performance issues (testing materials and other trouble-shooting).
5. Provision of assistance to manufacturers with product performance issues.
6. Issue of warnings on the EUCAST website when commercial materials with unacceptable quality are discovered.
7. Hosting of 1–5 day training visits to the EDL by colleagues from other laboratories.
8. Broth microdilution MIC determination with a three-working-day turnaround time from receipt of isolates.

Contact information for EUCAST Development Laboratory for bacteria

Erika Matuschek
EUCAST Development Laboratory (EDL)
c/o Clinical Microbiology
Central Hospital
SE-351 85 Växjö
Sweden
e-mail: erika.matuschek(at)escmid.org

The laboratory for testing of antifungal agents is currently hosted by the Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark. The laboratory for fungal AST is mandated to lead the development of antifungal susceptibility testing methods by the EUCAST AFST Steering Committee. For AST of fungi, the laboratory uses broth microdilution MIC determination for yeast, mould, and microconidia-forming dermatophyte species in accordance with methods described by EUCAST. Moreover, azole agar screening is used for A. fumigatus, also according to the EUCAST method.

The EDL (Fungi) offers the following services:

1. Development of EUCAST AFST methods.
2. Development and revision of AFST QC criteria for existing and new antifungal agents.
3. Generation of MIC datasets for the common human pathogenic fungal species for old and new antifungal agents.
4. Partnership with the EUCAST Laboratory Network to perform developmental work, generate multi-centre wild-type MIC distributions, and validate new methods and criteria.
5. MIC determination with a three (yeasts) or four (moulds) working day turnaround time from receipt of isolates. The non-profit costs are listed on the EUCAST website.
6. Provision of assistance to laboratories to troubleshoot when there are performance issues with methods.
7. Provision of assistance to manufacturers to troubleshoot when there are performance issues with products.
8. Issue of warnings on the EUCAST website when commercial materials with unacceptable quality are discovered.
9. Hosting of 1–5 day training visits to the EDL by colleagues from other laboratories.

Contact information for EUCAST Development Laboratory for fungi

Maiken Cavling Arendrup
Statens Serum Institute
Unit for Mycology, building 211, 1st floor
Dept. Microbiology & Infection Control
Artillerivej 5
DK-2300 Copenhagen S
Email: maiken.c.arendrup(at)escmid.org
Tel: (+45) 3268 3223
Websites: www.ssi.dk