Dr Ana Isabel Cubas Atienzar

Lecturer

Ana obtained her degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Murcia in 2013. Shortly after her degree, Ana moved to the UK and did her PhD at Salford University on the epidemiology and genetic diversity of Toxoplasma gondii in Mexico. After her PhD, she was appointed as a Research Fellow at the Roslin Institute, where she worked on molecular characterisation and the characterisation and development of novel diagnostic methods for zoonotic viral and bacterial diseases.

Ana joined LSTM in 2019 as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate to work on novel and Point-of-Care (POC) diagnostics for Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) . In 2021 Ana was promoted to Group Leader and in 2024 to Lecturer in Diagnostics of Infectious Diseases. Ana is interested in improving diagnostics for High Consequence Infectious Diseases and Emerging Diseases that have the potential to cause epidemics and outbreaks such as COVID-19, Mpox, CCHF, Malburg, and Rift Valley Fever. She leads diagnostic clinical and analytical evaluations under the Pandemic Thread Program of the Foundation of Innovative Diagnostics (FIND) and the development of POC diagnostics for Emerging Diseases.

Teaching

Ana is module co-lead of the Research Methods in Tropical Disease Biology (TROP705) and module co-convenor of MSc in One Health. Ana teaches in LIFE340, TROP720 and DTMH.

Other relevant expertise, professional memberships, awards

Ana is one of the diagnostics leads for LSTM's Centre for Drugs and Diagnostics (CDD), she sits on the management committee of iiDiagnostics and is the project lead of the COVID-19 diagnostic portfolio for iiCON. Ana is an active member of the Human Tissue Group at LSTM and Deputy representative for TDB for the Health and Safety Oversight Committee (HSOC).

Lab Group

Dr Mark Mawer (Post-Doctoral Research Associate), Dr Rachel Owen (Post-Doctoral Research Associate), Nadia Kontogianni (Senior Research Technician) and Anushri Somasundaran (Research Technician)

Projects/Funding

  • MRC DPFS 2024-2026: Development of a rapid diagnostic test to identify Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever at the point-of-care, Principal Investigator (PI) (£1,4M).
  • LifeArc LifeArc Translational Development Fund 2024-2026: Rapid detection of Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers, PI (£490K).
  • NIRH 2024-2028: Zoonotic Associated Febrile Illnesses, Co-investigator (Co-I) (£530K).
  • TPI Emerging Threats 2024-2025: Towards the development of a rapid diagnostic test for the diagnosis of Oropouche virus at the point-of-care, PI (£26K).
  • UKRI Tackling Infection Novel Technologies 2024-2025: Use of novel technologies to tackle infections: a one stop sputum-free diagnosis for Tuberculosis, PI (£150K).
  • FIND Pandemic Threats 2023: Evaluation of the performance of novel rapid diagnostics for Mpox virus at point-of-care, PI (£70K).
  • MRC IAA 2023-2025: Epitope mapping of monoclonal antibodies towards the development of a pan-lineage point-of-care test for Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), PI (£47,7K).
  • FIND Pandemic Threats 2021-2023: Implementation of accurate diagnostics for COVID-19 in point of care settings, PI (£878K).
Recent publications: 

    Selected publications

    • Thompson CR, Bozkurt I, Cosgun Y, Blundell P, Duvoix A, Johnson M, Hedef H, Arslan FG, Umudum BA, Bilek HC, Tanyel E, Pektaş AN, Taşseten TN, Bakir M, Büyüktuna SA, Olçar Y, Yilmaz FA, Arslan M, Al-Hilfi RA, Hasan HA, Khaleel RI, Aufi IM, Mahdi SG, Aakef IR, Shakir, Ahmed HA, Hussein A, Abdulhadi NA, Mohsin ZA, Korukluoglu G, Cubas-Atienzar AI, Fletcher TE, Adams ER. Development and evaluation of an antigen targeting lateral flow test for Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever. EBioMedicine. 2024 Dec 1;110.

      Cubas-Atienzar AI, Kontogianni K, Edwards T, Wooding D, Buist K, Thompson CR, Williams CT, Patterson EI, Hughes GL, Baldwin L, Escadafal C, Adams E Limit of detection in different matrices of 19 commercially available rapid antigen tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. Scientific reports. 2021 Sep 15;11(1):18313.

      Cubas-Atienzar AI, Williams CT, Karkey A, Dongol S, Sulochana M, Rajendra S, Hobbs G, Evans K, Musicha P, Feasey N, Cuevas LE, Adams E, Edwards T. A novel air-dried multiplex high resolution melt assay for the detection of extended spectrum beta-lactamase and Carbapenemase genes. Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance. 2021 Dec;27:123-131.

      Byrne RL, Kay GA, Kontogianni K, Aljayyoussi G, Brown L, Collins AM, Cuevas LE, Ferreira DM, Fraser AJ, Garrod G, Hill H, Grant L. Hughes, Menzies S, Mitsi E, Owen S, Patterson EI, Williams CT, Hyder-Wright A, Adams E, and Cubas-Atienzar AI. Saliva Alternative to Upper Respiratory Swabs for SARS-CoV-2 Diagnosis. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2020 Nov;26(11):2769.

      Cubas-Atienzar AI, Gerber PF, Opriessnig T. Use of the rSpaA415 antigen indicates low rates of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae infection in farmed cattle from the United States of America and Great Britain. BMC Veterinary Research. 2019 Dec;15(1):1-7.