Research Activities

We specialise in the development and application of nucleic acid, immunochemical or biochemical based assays, and will undertake collaborative or contract research projects using these techniques in any area of human or animal scientific investigation. We can provide a complete and cost effective service, from initial project design to a presentation of the final report.  For a discussion of any potential research proposals please call us or e-mail Dr David Burnett (d.burnett@micropathology.com).

We collaborate in a variety of research programs with colleagues at universities and hospitals.  A number of academic research students and fellows undertake joint research projects with our company staff on a regular basis.

Examples of our recent and current research projects are listed below:

1. Dr Eleanor Pinnock and Dr Colin Fink are collaborators in a multi-centre EU funded grant co-ordinated by Professor Mike Levin (Imperial College and St Mary’s Hospital Paediatrics, London).  This is a large-scale study aiming to identify genes and pathways that are determinants of susceptibility and severity in life-threatening diseases of childhood.  Our laboratory will be involved in molecular diagnoses of children recruited to the study with serious invasive bacterial disease.  We will also utilise next-generation sequencing technology as part of an analysis of the relationship between a specific virulence factor in Neisseria meningitidis and its partner protein within the human host.
2. Dr Eleanor Pinnock is collaborating with Drs Tim Planche and Frankie Bolt (St George’s Hospital, London) in an investigation into the population biology of opportunistic pathogens. This study will apply pyrosequencing techniques to isolates obtained from environmental sampling and clinical infections across a number of European sites.  Whole-genome sequencing, microarray analysis and multilocus sequence typing will be used to define core and accessory genomic content and examine its transmission.
3. Dr Phil Bennett, our molecular geneticist, is co-supervising a PhD student, Deborah Harrison, in an investigation of factors affecting DNA recovery and viability from archaeological bone in varied burial conditions.  This project is in collaboration with Cranfield University’s Forensic Science Institute.
4. Drs Andrea Collins and Joanna Brown are collaborating with Drs David Honeybourne and Rifat Rashid in a comparison of rapid nucleic acid testing with conventional microbiological methods in the detection of Burkholderia cenocepacia complex (BCC) in the sputa of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients.  BCC are important opportunistic human pathogens with infections resulting in frequent hospitalisation, poor clinical prognosis and decreased survival in these patients.  The rapid detection of BCC isolates is of great benefit in the management of CF patients both in the clinic and during in-patient periods.  This project involves collaboration with Professor Chris Dowson and his team from Biological Sciences, University of Warwick.
5. The company is providing financial support and diagnostic expertise for Professor J Simon Kroll, Department of Paediatrics, Imperial College London and St Mary’s Hospital in a project with Dr Jethro Herberg, Imperial College Research Fellow, looking at acute respiratory infections and host responses in children admitted to hospital.
6. The company is providing financial support for Professor J Simon Kroll in a project looking at bacterial colonisation in children admitted to hospital with acute respiratory infections.