Dr Ruth Mcnerney CBiol MIBiol PhD

Senior Lecturer in Pathogen Biology and Diagnostics

Ruth McNerney's research includes the development, adaptation and evaluation of tools for the control of tuberculosis. This includes diagnosis, detection of drug resistance, molecular epidemiology and whole genome sequencing. She also has an interest in transmission of the disease. She is experienced in molecular techniques, immunoassay, and previously developed a simple, rapid, low-cost test for drug susceptibility using bacteriophages. She has a strong interest in POC tests and current activities include the application of artifical nose technology and RPA, a new isothermal nucleic acid amplification technology for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. She has also developed patient based educational materials to assist diagnosis. She is a member of the STOP TB Working Group on New Diagnostics and chairs the subgroup on point-of-care tests. Her most recent publication is on aerosol production by the vuvuzela, the plastic blowing horn used by soccer fans.

Affiliation

Teaching

Ruth is a tutor for the Tuberculosis Module of the distance learning MSc program. She also teaches and tutors students for the 'in-house' MSc courses, including Medical Microbiology, Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases and Control of Infectious Diseases.

Research

Research activities include the development and evaluation of tests for diagnosis of tuberculosis and the detection of drug resistance. The laboratory also undertakes molecular typing (fingerprinting) including RFLP, spoligotyping and VNTR/MIRU.

Current projects include

Research areas

  • Diagnostics
  • Drug resistance

Disciplines

  • Bacteriology
  • Microbiology
  • Molecular epidemiology
  • Operational research

Disease and Health Conditions

  • Infectious disease
  • Tuberculosis

Other interests

  • MDR TB
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