VISAVET | Mycobacteria Unit

Contact

Mycobacteria Unit
VISAVET Health Surveillance Centre
Universidad Complutense
Av. Puerta de Hierro s/n. 28040 Madrid. Spain

e-mail:

Head office phone: (+34) 913 944 033

Laboratory phone: (+34) 913 943 975

The Mycobacteria Unit (MYC) routinely conducts immunological, bacteriological, and molecular diagnosis of infections caused by mycobacteria, primarily tuberculosis. Additionally, it carries out field and experimental studies to evaluate diagnostic techniques and vaccines for the design of control and eradication strategies, as well as molecular epidemiology studies based on different techniques including sequencing. Therefore, the main research lines of the group involve the development, evaluation and fine-tuning of methodologies for in vivo and in vitro diagnosis of infections caused by mycobacteria, as well as the development of new technology for molecular characterization studies. MYC also collaborates with the Official Veterinary Services of Spain to design strategies that improve control and eradication programs for tuberculosis in domestic ruminants, as well as in the improvement of diagnosis and control in other domestic and wildlife species. Additionally, MYC participates in training courses and conferences on various aspects of tuberculosis aimed at veterinarians and livestock farmers. Thanks to the professional trajectory of this group, the VISAVET Centre was designated in 2008 as the European Union Reference Laboratory for bovine tuberculosis, under the auspices of the European Commission, providing technical support to all National Reference Laboratories (NRL) as well as the official veterinary services of the European Union. Furthermore, in 2023, it was also designated as the Reference Laboratory for mammalian tuberculosis by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), expanding its technical and scientific work beyond the European context.

Research

Research lines:

Tuberculosis control (MYC)
Molecular characterizacion studies of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MYC)
Tuberculosis diagnosis (MYC)
Molecular epidemiology of tubeculosis (MYC)
Diagnosis of other mycobacteriosis (MYC)

Last scientific publications:

Wheelahan JW., Gómez-Buendía A., Legione AR., Firestone SM., Vaz PK., Hartley CA., Rourke NL. and Devlin JM.. Evaluation of four molecular detection assays for the diagnosis of Chlamydia pecorum infection in Victorian koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) using Bayesian latent class analysis. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 250:106809. 2026. (A)
Velasco-Reinaldos C., Roy A., Cruz F., Gómez-Buendía A., Ortega J., Mendez-Lopez S., de Juan L., Dominguez L., Romero B., Alvarez J. and Bezos J.. Exploring specific biomarkers in blood for in vitro diagnosis of caprine tuberculosis. Frontiers in Microbiology, 17:1765857. 2026. (A)
Marfil MJ., Traversa MJ., Barandiaran S., Ferrara-Muniz X., Zumarraga MJ. and Eirin ME.. Editorial: One Health approach to mycobacterial infections in veterinary science. Frontiers in veterinary science, 13:1778469. 2026. (A)
Gómez-Buendía A., Triguero-Ocana R., Pozo P., Munoz-Mendoza M., Alvarez-Fidalgo M., Mourelo J., Romero B. and Alvarez J.. Abattoir Surveillance: Identifying Risk Factors Associated with Bovine Tuberculosis Lesion Detection in a Low Prevalence Region. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 246:106710 . 2026. (A)
Grant IR., Sevilla IA., Molina E., Romero B., Lorente-Leal V., Thibault-Poisson VC., Cechova M. and Kohler H.. Evaluation of the reproducibility and performance characteristics of the Phagomagnetic separation-qPCR assay for rapidly detecting viable Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in bovine milk and feces. Frontiers in veterinary science, 12. 2025. (A)

See all scientific publications

Last PhD thesis:

Alberto Gómez Buendía. Quantitative epidemiology for the characterization of the performance of diagnostic tests used in the frame of the Spanish bovine tuberculosis eradication program. 2026. (Doctorado Internacional)
Javier Ortega Martín. Study of factors affecting the diagnostic performance of cellular and humoral-based techniques for caprine tuberculosis. 2024.
Pilar Pozo Piñol. Use of Epidemiological Analytic Tools and Molecular Characterization Techniques to Inform Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Programs. 2020. (Doctorado Internacional y Doctorado Industrial)
Álvaro Roy Cordero. Evaluation of new vaccines against tuberculosis in goats and advances in their immunological diagnosis. 2020. (Doctorado Internacional y Doctorado Industrial)
Jose Antonio Infantes Lorenzo. Immunoproteomic characterization of protein derivatives from Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium avium (subspecies avium and paratuberculosis) and Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. Application in diagnosis. 2018. (Doctorado Europeo)

See all thesis

Outreach

Last outreach publications:

Ortega J., Velasco-Reinaldos C., Romero B., Alvarez J. and Bezos J.. Evaluación de dos antígenos experimentales (DST-F y P22) para el diagnóstico inmunológico de la tuberculosis en ganado bovino. Ruminews, Agrinews. 2025.
Bezos J.. Improving the diagnosis of tuberculosis in domestic ruminants through the use of new antigens and test platforms. International Coordination of Research on Infectious Animal Diseases (ICRAD) 2019- 2025. A European network initiative advancing animal health and welfare. Ed. 1. 2019-2025, DTU Aqua. 2025.
Velasco-Reinaldos C., Ortega J., Roy A., Moreno I., Dominguez M., Jones G., Gormley E., McGill K., Boniotti MB., Bakker D., Or E., Mazzone P., Martucciello A . and Bezos J.. Improving the diagnosis of tuberculosis in domestic ruminants through the use of new antigens and test platforms. The imdiTBap project. EAVLD Newsletter, 25:18-20, European Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (EAVLD). 2025.
Velasco-Reinaldos C., Ortega J., Romero B., Alvarez J. and Bezos J.. Avances del proyecto internacional imditbap para mejorar el diagnóstico inmunológico de la tuberculosis caprina. Ruminews, Agrinews. 2025.
Velasco-Reinaldos C., Ortega J., Roy A., Moreno I., Dominguez M., Jones G., Gormley E., McGill K., Boniotti MB., Bakker D., Or E., Mazzone P., Martucciello A . and Bezos J.. imdiTBap. Improving the diagnosis of tuberculosis in domestic ruminants through the use of new antigens and test platforms. German Multidisciplinary Publishing Center, 1, GMPC Main Eidtorial Office. 2025.