Charles University in Prague Faculty of Pharmacy Hradec Králové Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology Student: Jan Bavlovič Supervisors: PharmDr. Lukáš Červený, Ph.D. Prof. Doutora Luísa Peixe Co-advisors: Doutora Ângela Novais Doutora Ana Freitas Title: Characterisation of multidrug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterococcus faecium isolates by spectroscopic and genotypic methods. Ever increasing antimicrobial resistance is currently a worldwide problem, traditionally addressed by DNA-based approaches. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) for the characterization of multidrug resistant carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae and E. faecium isolates. We analysed 20 clinical K. pneumoniae isolates obtained from different community laboratories from Portugal between March 2014 and September 2015 and 143 previously characterized vancomycin-resistant E. faecium isolates obtained from humans, animals, and the environment in 26 countries between 1992 and 2015. Isolates were primarily characterized by genotypic methods including antimicrobial susceptibility testing, detection of carbapenemases and extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), identification of antibiotic resistance coding transposons (Tn) and...