About the MDU
The Molecular Diagnostics Unit (MDU) is an independent, CPA-accredited diagnostic laboratory administered by Imperial College London through its subsidiary Imperial Consultants (iCON).
The Unit was established by Professor Myra McClure in the academic Department of Infectious Diseases and provides specialist molecular diagnostic tests in virology and other infectious diseases. The tests provided have been developed as research tools within the research department and have subsequently been validated for use as routine diagnostic methods.
The research interests of the department include, in addition to designing novel assays (1), understanding the mechanism of retrovirus integration (2, 3), the evolution of the neutralising antibody response from primary HIV infection, development of HIV protein expression systems for the production of antigens for HIV vaccine trials, the role of C. trachomatis in reactive arthritis, the pathogenesis of early HCV infection (4) and the role of endogenous retroviruses in melanoma.
Selected publications
- Pgp3 antibody enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, a sensitive and specific assay for seroepidemiological analysis of Chlamydia trachomatis infection.
Wills GS, Horner PJ, Reynolds R, Johnson AM, Muir DA, Brown DW, Winston A, Broadbent AJ, Parker D, McClure MO. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2009;16: 835-43 - Structural basis for functional tetramerization of lentiviral integrase.
Hare S, Di Nunzio F, Labeja A, Wang J, Engelman A, Cherepanov P.
PLoS Pathog. 2009; 5: e1000515. - A novel co-crystal structure affords the design of gain-of-function lentiviral integrase mutants in the presence of modified PSIP1/LEDGF/p75.
Hare S, Shun MC, Gupta SS, Valkov E, Engelman A, Cherepanov P.
PLoS Pathog. 2009; 5: e1000259 - Delayed anti-HCV antibody response in HIV-positive men acutely infected with HCV.
Thomson EC, Nastouli E, Main J, Karayiannis P, Eliahoo J, Muir D, McClure MO.
AIDS. 2009; 23: 89-93
