Biomarkers for tropical diseases

Dr Markus Winterbert from our MORU unit in Bangkok, Thailand, tells us about his research on biomarkers for tropical diseases Having a background in malaria physiology and biochemistry, Markus Winterberg’s research focus is on the interaction between host, pathogen and drug, the metabolism of antimalarial drugs and discovering biomarkers for tropical diseases. Markus aims to use these biomarkers to develop non-invasive, field-based rapid diagnostic tests for tropical diseases that quickly identify pathogens, thereby improving diagnostics and the treatment of patients. Dr Markus Winterberg is Head of Laboratory and a Principal Investigator in MORU’s Department of Clinical Pharmacology. The key aspect of his research is ‘trop-med-omics’, the application of mass spectrometry-based bioanalysis in tropical medicine, particularly using proteomics and metabolomics to identify a disease in a patient.