"One of the most worrying issues in public health is the recent and dramatic increase of hospital and community acquired infections mediated by uropathogenic (UPEC) multidrug resistant Escherichia coli clones. Recent epidemiological studies highlighted the implication of specific E. coli lineages from different genetic backgrounds in the spread of particular antibiotic resistance genes in wide geographic areas and settings. However, the reasons motivating their fast emergence and amplification and/or the factors influencing pathogenicity, adhesion and persistence are poorly understood, hindering the design of measures to curtail their spread. To gain insights into the role of these clonal groups, it would be necessary to extend the knowledge on their global distribution, identify transmission pathways and deepen in the characterization of their virulence and pathogenic profile. High-throughput methods could be valuable to complement genotypic methods in the identification of targets for clinically relevant clones’ detection, and to optimize global surveillance approaches. Although an appropriate validation and selection of statistical analysis methods is needed to consolidate their application in medical microbiology, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) has proved to be discriminatory at different bacterial taxonomic levels and might be a promising tool to assist large-scale epidemiological studies. We propose to apply a multidisciplinary and dynamic approach encompassing FTIR and conventional genotypic methods for identification and characterization of representative UPEC-multidrug resistant E. coli clones, recently responsible for the spread of extended-spectrum β-lactamases. This proposal includes fundamental research EU high priority areas with potential translation to human health, and the application of innovative and multidisciplinary strategies promoting research’s cooperativeness, inter-sectoral transfer of knowledge and global competitiveness."