Background and current state of research
Identification of pathogens using next generation sequencing (NGS) could be a very promising method for future diagnostics in the clinic [1]. In the past it has been shown that especially for specific diseases that have limits in standard diagnostics, e.g. neuroleptospirosis, NGS could be an attractive alternative [2]. Also for unknown pathogenes in ,for example, ancient specimen, pathogen DNA could be detected via NGS [3].
[1] Lecuit, Marc, Eloit, Marc. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2014; 4: 25.published online 2014 Mar 6. The diagnosis of infectious diseases by whole genome next generation sequencing: a new era is opening. read more
[2] M. Wilson, s. Naccache, E. Samayoa et.al. The New England journal of medicine 2014 Actionable diagnosis of neuroleptospirosis by next-generation sequencing. read more
[3] A. Devault, K. McLoughlin, C. Jaing et.al. Nature - Scientific reports 2014 Ancient pathogen DNA in archaeological samples detected with a Microbial Detection Array. read more
Our goals
My aim for the thesis is to develop a method to identify specific pathogens in different kinds of human specimen or tissues.
How to get there
We will employ a customized enrichment technique and develop a tailored bioinformatic pipeline in this pilot project. In a first step we will concentrate on the most commonly tested pathogens in the University Hospital.