Michel Delmée has been a full professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the UCLouvain and head of the laboratory in the microbiology department of the St Luc-UCLouvain University Clinics. He taught medical microbiology to students of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and biomedical sciences. He directed the MBLG Medical Microbiology Unit at the Institute for Experimental and Clinical Research (IREC). Most of his research career has been devoted to the study of Clostridioides difficile, a pathogenic bacterium of the intestine that is currently recognized as the main cause of healthcare-associated (nosocomial) infections in hospitals.
The laboratory studies the epidemiology of these infections and develops new diagnostic approaches. It is recognized since 2011 as a National Reference Center (CNR) for C. difficile and is associated with Sciensano in an ongoing national epidemiological surveillance program. It participates in several European surveillance programs.
The technological developments underlying their bacteriology activities mainly concern typing by molecular biology and, more recently, whole genome sequencing.