The Queensland Paediatric Infectious Diseases Laboratory develops new molecular protocols to aid in the diagnosis and characterisation of infectious disease. New diagnostic protocols are introduced into routine practice through our pathology service provider, whilst the detailed characterisation of infectious agents has been applied to a number of research studies. There is an absolute requirement for these methodologies to deliver high quality nucleic acids for analysis and that analysis of these is sensitive and reproducible.
One of our research studies is an observational birth cohort study examining the acquisition and clinical impact of respiratory and gastrointestinal pathogens in young children during the first two years of life. Results of this study will be discussed, as well as the molecular diagnostic pathways and technology applied to the project.