Department of Clinical Microbiology
The Department of Clinical Microbiology was established eighty years ago (in 1944) as a single room laboratory. The Department provides state of the art diagnostic services in bacteriology, mycobacteriology, mycology and immunology.
Major Milestones of our department
National EQAS under IAMM
WHO SEARO reference centre for S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, and N. meningitides
ICMR reference center: A.baumanii, P.aeruginosa, bacterial diarrheal agents and enteric fever.
WHO national reference lab: B.pertussis, C.diphtheriae and S.Typhi.
Establishment of cell culture facility and first isolation of Orientia tsutsugamushi in India.
ICMR Centre for advanced research (ICMR-CAR): National reference centre for Rickettsial disease (NRCRD), National bacteriophage research centre for AMR mitigation (NBRC-AMR)
How research has translated to improved diagnostics & healthcare
Contributions (Local & National)
- The Department of Clinical Microbiology, CMC, Vellore has been at the forefront in the diagnosis of rickettsial infections in the country for about two and half decades.
- First bacteriology laboratory to establish cell culture: Successfully isolated Orientia tsutsugamushi and capable of producing the gold standard IFA kits for sero-diagnosis of scrub typhus.
- Biomarker cloning and expression: Cell-based IFA for scrub typhus, newer biomarker, discovery for diagnosis of enteric fever.
- Molecular assays for diagnosis of Scrub Typhus, and Spotted Fever
- Genomic analysis of Orientia tsutsugamushi and Rickettsia
- Hollow-Fibre infection model