The Microbiology, Health and Environment Laboratory (LMSE) is part of the Doctoral School of Sciences and Technology and the Faculty of Public Health of the Lebanese University. The scientists working in the laboratory are experts in medical and food microbiology. The LMSE is located in Tripoli, Lebanon, in the AZM Center for Research in Biotechnology and its Applications.
Facilities
LMSE researchers have access to a BSL2+ laboratory, and the use of various molecular diagnostic techniques, including MALDI-TOF Vitek-MS, GeneXpert, Genomica microarray, Pyrosequencer Pyro Mark Q96ID, BioFire’s FilmArray, etc.
Expertise and Objectives
The laboratory's mission is to use its scientific potential for research in infectious diseases by obtaining accurate scientific and epidemiological data that can lead to the development of appropriate health strategies for reducing the spread of infectious agents. The laboratory is actively involved in the training and counselling of its foremost Master's and PhD students to promote scientific expertise in Lebanon. It also contributes to improving the skills of technical and professional health workers by organizing specialized high-level training courses designed for medical and food analysis workers. In addition, the LMSE provides advanced specialized outpatient services and rapid and accurate diagnostics to Lebanese hospitals within a framework of constructive cooperation at both national and international levels.
At the national level, the LMSE has become a reference laboratory for the Lebanese Ministry of Health in the monitoring of tuberculosis and some food-borne diseases, in the collection and typing of bacterial clinical isolates, and in the study of bacterial resistance to antibiotics (especially the resistance to carbapenems and last generation cephalosporins) in North Lebanon, where an extensive network of hospitals and medical centers has been created.
At the international level, the laboratory cooperates with many scientific laboratories, located primarily in France. It actively collaborates with several health and humanitarian organizations, including, but not limited to, the Mérieux Foundation, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the World Health organization (WHO).
Learn more about the Microbiology, Health and Environment Laboratory (LMSE)