About "Pathogen"

 

　Profile #13: Dr. YAMAGISHI Junya, Professor

　Division of Collaboration and Education,

　International Institute for Zoonosis Control

 

　【Research Topics】

　・Development of novel diagnostic methods based on sequencing

 

 

 

 

～Diagnosis of all pathogens with one method～

 

Specific diagnostic methods are used to detect COVID-19. You may take it for granted that we should use specific diagnostic method for influenza which is different from those for COVID-19. Indeed it’s true, but given the number of pathogens in the world, it is difficult to develop diagnostic methods one by one for all. In the case of emerging diseases like COVID-19, we have to develop it from scratch as well. That is why we are tackling the development of a universal method that can deal with whole pathogens in the world. The key is the pathogen genome. Either DNA or RNA, all pathogens have their unique genome. Therefore, we can identify the pathogen by their genome sequences. Interestingly, rapid, portable, and cost-effective nanopore type sequencers become available recently. By combining our methods and the nanopore-type sequencers, we will implement a cutting-edge integrated diagnosis system which can deal with any pathogens anywhere.

 

 

　　　　

Training course of disease diagnosis using 　　　Flongle, a tiny nanopore sequencer

next generation sequencing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

　We expect social implementation of our diagnostic methods

　together with collaborators from all over the world