About us

The Molecular Diagnostics Unit (MDU) is an independent, UKAS accredited medical diagnostic service No. 9003, run by the section of Virology, Department of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London.

The Unit was established by Professor Myra McClure in the former Department of Genitourinary Medicine and provides specialist molecular diagnostic tests in virology and other branches of Microbiology. The tests provided have been developed as research tools within the section and have subsequently been validated for use in routine clinical diagnostics.

The research interests of the department include:

• designing and developing novel assays
• understanding the mechanism of retrovirus integration
• 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
• the role of endogenous retroviruses in melanoma
• study of the clonality of HTLV infected cells