Molecular epidemiology of Group B Streptococcus (GBS) carriage

Principal Investigator: Jason Hinds
Institution: BUGS Bioscience
Co-Investigators: Rob Heyderman, Neil French, Shabir Madhi, Kirsty Le Doare

GBS causes stillbirth, neonatal death & disability in LMICs but is under-researched. Vaccine trials with disease endpoints require very large sample sizes. Carriage has thus been proposed as an endpoint to assess vaccine impact but GBS population structure and multiple serotype carriage have not been defined. BUGS Bioscience will finalise a novel DNA microarray that can then be applied to GBS carriage collections in Malawi, South Africa and The Gambia. An initial pilot study will be undertaken on samples from mother-infant pairs from Malawi.