KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET Microbiology & Tumor Biology Center • MTC Clinical Microbiology - KS

Research projects

Mycotic and mycobacterial infections.

The epidemiological tracing of TB-stains is increasingly important as the threat of TB and multiresistant TB grows. We work with epidemiological tracing of Swedish TB-strains using RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism). The genetic structures observed are highly conserved and can be used for tracing individual strains. The goal is to characterise every new isolate of TB in Sweden, and compare the pattern with a database including all previous strains. There is also a contact with international databases.

Dr Yimtubezinash W Amanuel is collecting a broad material of dermatophyte isolates from different environments in Ethiopia. Her PhD thesis will cover the epidemiology and diagnosis of dermatophytosis in Ethiopia, a country that is not yet well mapped in that respect. Also molecular techniques will be tried on the collection, to see if genetic variation has any bearing on this type of isolates. Dr Erja Chryssanthou is co-superviser in the dermatophyte project.