Dr Claire Chewapreecha, Wellcome International Intermediate Fellow at Mahidol Oxford Research Unit (MORU) in Bangkok, Thailand, tells us about her research on the genomics of melioidosis.
Genetic investigations into melioidosis, profiling both bacteria and patients, help understand disease acquisition and outcomes. Furthermore, identifying prevalent harmful bacterial genes supports vaccine development, and the development of CRISPR-Cas-based tests responds to an urgent need for rapid diagnosis that can reduce the detection time to under three hours with higher sensitivity. Applications developed in resource-limited settings show improved global applicability and impact on patients’ outcomes.
