Steve Read BSc (Hons)
After graduating from the University of Birmingham in 1988 with a degree in Microbiology, Steve Read joined the Public Health Laboratory Service as a Clinical Scientist. Based at their Oxford laboratory in the John Radcliffe Hospital, his brief included the development and provision of a rapid diagnostic service based on nucleic acid techniques. This developmental work coincided with the first descriptions of the diagnostic uses of molecular amplification techniques including polymerase and ligase chain reactions. During Steve Read’s ten years in Oxford, he developed a range of rapid nucleic acid assays for the diagnosis of viral and bacterial diseases, some of this work in collaboration with Dr. Colin Fink . In particular these assays were for the diagnosis of infections in immunosuppressed transplant patients and infections of the central nervous system (CNS). Two important studies he published were on the diagnosis of CNS infections and examined the laboratory and clinical usefulness of molecular diagnostic techniques.
He has collaborated with various laboratories around the world involved with the diagnosis of CNS infection, notably with Professor Luiz Jobim of the University of Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil, and he has visited Brazil several times to assist the research staff with their molecular diagnostic service.
In 1998 he joined Micropathology Ltd to work on the development of its rapid diagnostic service and research project work and he has developed a particular interest in methods of quantitating viral load during infection.
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