Pierrette Melin
P. Melin, PhD, Pharmacist, specialist in clinical biology, professor at the faculty of medicine, head of the clinical microbiology department at University hospital of Liege, member of the CIRM (Centre Intégré de Recherche sur le Médicament), is responsible of the microbiological diagnosis performed in the laboratory, of the quality assurance system of the lab and of the environmental surveillance cultures performed for control of hospital hygiene and for microbiological quality assurance in industrialized setting.
She has a 3-decade experience and research in group B streptococcal infections, diseases, diagnostic methods and prevention strategies. She is involved in national and international working groups for the prevention and management of GBS neonatal infections and chairs the group of clinical and public health representatives who re-evaluates the prevention strategies and updates the guidelines. In Belgium, she is director of the national reference centre for Streptococcus agalactiae.
Furthermore, she is a committed supporter of the development, validation and implementation of new technologies and products always aiming to improve the management of infectious diseases. She has long standing experience with the development and implementation of both conventional and advanced diagnostic tests in the clinical microbiology laboratory and has published her research in over 60 full papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
She has been work package leader in the EC-funded FP7 project, DEVANI 2008-2011 (Design of a vaccine to immunize neonates against GBS infections through a durable maternal immune response), in the EC-funded FP7 project, C4L 2011-2014 (« Chips for Life”, the overall objective was to develop a panel of dedicated rapid diagnostic tests to allow the medical staff to link antibiotic prescription on evidence-based diagnosis) and in several national or regional funded projects. She is work package leader in the Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles Pole Biowin funded project 2016-2020 FRISBY: Fast and Reliable ultra-sensitive identification of Streptococcus B at delivery. She is also technical auditor (ISO15189) for BELAC, the Belgian Accreditation Organization and member of the College of the Superior Health Council.
Abstracts this author is presenting: