Molecular diagnosis and bacterial genotyping

Dr Janjira Thaipadungpanit from our MORU unit in Bangkok, Thailand, tells us about her research on molecular diagnosis and bacterial genotyping A molecular microbiologist, Dr Janjira’s research focusses on using bacterial typing based on genome to confirm which disease is present in a patient. She aims to develop a single whole genome sequence type test using mutliple-PCR assays that can determine from a single sample of blood what bacteria or viruses are present in a patient’s blood – thereby speeding up diagnosis and potentially saving lives in resource-limited settings. Head of Molecular Microbiology at MORU, Dr Janjira Thaipadungpanit’s research interests include the molecular epidemiology of leptospirosis and melioidosis using multilocus sequence typing or genome data and molecular diagnosis to identify the causes of acute febrile illness and sepsis in patients.