LSTM’s Dr Elissavet Nikolaou was awarded Director’s Catalyst Funding to establish home sampling as a screening tool for long term monitoring of respiratory diseases in community. Her research will focus on investigating the role of bacterial and viral flora of the upper respiratory tract in respiratory disease.
Respiratory tract infections are of critical importance especially given the current COVID-19 pandemic. There is little information available regarding why some people get mild or severe disease, whilst others remain asymptomatic when infected with the same pathogen. To answer this, Dr Nikolaou will monitor changes of the upper respiratory tract bacterial microbiota over time in parents and children of Liverpool households in order to define an “at risk” microbiome for better understand the progression of disease. Ultimately, Dr Nikolaou is wanting to build upon our understanding to reduce transmission and prevent upper respiratory tract infections.