Environmental Microbiology

The Environmental Microbiology Laboratory conducts research on the ecology and epidemiology of V. cholerae. A study in collaboration with the Northumbria University, UK and the Ministry of Health, Mozambique, is attempting to determine whether similar environmental factors that contribute to epidemics of cholera in Bangladesh also exist in Mozambique. Its overall aim is to transfer technology from ICDDR,B to the Centre for Environmental Hygiene and Medical Exams (CHAEM), Beira, to combat cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases that occur at regular intervals in Mozambique. In another collaborative study with Stanford University, California, USA, investigations are being carried out in the Matlab Health and Demographic Surveillance area to determine whether V. cholerae O1 can form biofilms in the aquatic environment to survive during the inter-epidemic periods. In another collaborative study with Dartmouth Medical College, New Hampshire, USA and University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, an investigation is being carried out to determine the temporal dynamics of gene expression and regulation under the different environmental conditions. The overall aim of the latter study is to establish an in situ incubation experiment in Bangladesh that measures gene expression in bacteria as a function of seasonal variation in the environmental conditions in natural systems. A laboratory-based experiment is being undertaken to investigate the role of physicochemical parameters in the association of cyanobacteria and V. cholerae in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University of USA.

Staff