Prof Pablo Tsukayama

International Fellow, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru

Pablo Tsukayama is a Peruvian microbiologist with a long-standing interest in infectious diseases affecting Latin American populations.

Research interests

The Microbial Genomics Laboratory at Cayetano Heredia University combine methods in clinical microbiology, genomics, bioinformatics, and infectious disease epidemiology to study infectious diseases in Peru and to generate evidence that guides policy and interventions to help reduce the disease burden in local communities. In particular the group focuses on genomic epidemiology of human pathogens, studies of human and environmental microbiomes, and optimization of methods for genome sequencing and analysis.

As a Sanger International Fellow, Pablo and collaborators have set up a SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance platform to study local transmission and evolution. His group also conducts surveillance studies on drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Lima, a major TB hotspot in Latin America. The group is also interested in the basic biology of Bartonella bacilliformis, the agent of Carrion’s Disease, a neglected disease endemic to high-altitude communities in the Peruvian Andes.

Personal bio

Pablo obtained his PhD in Molecular Microbiology at Washington University in St. Louis, working with Prof Gautam Dantas. Later, as a Chevening Scholar, he did an MSc in Public Health in Developing Countries at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 2017, he returned to Peru as an assistant professor of microbiology at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, where he started his undergraduate training 15 years earlier.