As part of the Mycobacteria Research Laboratories, the Avanzi Lab specializes in the genomics epidemiology of leprosy. More specifically, it investigates the transmission and dissemination dynamics of Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis, the causative agents of leprosy in humans, along with the role of animal and environmental hosts in facilitating the global pathogen spread. Furthermore, her research encompasses the development and optimization of molecular diagnostic techniques for detecting these pathogens in clinical specimens and assessing their viability, which is crucial for evaluating treatment effectiveness and developing new regimens. Additionally, as a participant in the World Health Organization’s drug resistance surveillance network, her laboratory conducts comprehensive molecular analyses to determine drug susceptibility profiles and elucidate novel resistance mechanisms in M. leprae.
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Leprosy has been present in the Americas for more than 1,000 years, long before the arrival of European settlers, according to a groundbreaking new finding published this week in the journal Science.
An international collaboration of scientists, including Colorado State University mycobacteria researchers, find DNA from an enigmatic bacterium in 1000-year-old skeletons.
The Avanzi Lab’s Ria Janapati wins CVMBS College Honors for her research titled, “Comparing qPCR Detection of Mycobacterium leprae in Human and Armadillo Samples” at CURC 2025.
contact information
Lab: Microbiology Building room B330
Offices: Microbiology Building rooms B308 & B320
(970) 491-2669
[email protected]