Detection and Characterization of Novel/Rare Pathogens:   

Accurate diagnosis of infection is crucial in management of patients as well in controlling the spread of disease. The traditional approaches incljuding culture, serology, staining are insensitive for diagnosis of many pathogens including viruses.  In addition, they are highly labour intensive and time-consuming. Recently developed next generation sequencing technologies have signicantly advanced the capability of labs to identify pathogens causing diseases in humans, animals and plants. At Public Health Ontario Laboratory (PHOL), we are interested in developing a research program that will  be capable of identifying emerging or rare pathogens causing disease in humans. This capability will significantly enhance our ability to respond to any threat by quickly and accurately detecting pathogens resulting in implementation of control measures to prevent them from spreading.

Antibiotic Resistance:

During last twenty years, we have seen increased number of multi-drug resistant bacteria both in hospital and community based settings. Detecting and chacterizing mechanisms of antibiotic resistance is critical not only in management of patients but also in control of such organisms from spreading into hospitalized patients as well as in the community. My lab is involved in detecting and characterizing mechainsms of antibiotic resistance in both Gram-positive and -negative bacteria. In addition, we are actively involved in surveillance of antimicrobial resistance to monitor prevalence of drug resistant organisms in the province.