Antonio Gigliotti Rothfuchs

About me

I have more than 15 years of research experience with intracellular pathogens, primarily Mycobacterium species, under Biosafety Level 2 (BSL2) and BSL3 and in mouse models. I am Chairman of the Biosafety Committee at Karolinska Institutet and help oversee KI's regulations on biosafety, containment work in different biosafety levels and the handling of genetically-modified microorganisms. I am also Director of the BSL3 core facility at Biomedicum which supports research on risk group 3 bacteria, parasites and viruses.

Research description

My laboratory does basic research on the immunology and infection biology of mycobacteria. We are particularly interested in the aerobiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and in techniques to capture and analyze pathogens in the air. We have developed an aerobiology platform in BSL3 where highly-pathogenic microorganisms can be safely and experimentally aerosolized, collected using different air samplers and detected by different analytical methods. We are using this platform to investigate the performance of an electrostatic air sampler for M. tuberculosis developed in the lab; to investigate biosafety and sampling performance of commercial samplers; and to study the effects of aerosol transport on the survival, infectivity and immune response of M. tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2.

Teaching portfolio

• Coordinator, KI Summer School in Medical Research (KISS)

 https://education.ki.se/ki-summer-school-in-medical-research

• Teacher, Basic Laboratory Safety (course 2690)
• Teacher, Immunology and Microbiology (course 1BI041)

Education

• Associate Professor of Immunology (Docent), Karolinska Institutet.   2014
• Doctor of Medical Science (PhD) in Immunobiology, Karolinska Institutet.   2004
• Master of Medical Science with a Major in Biomedicine, Karolinska Institutet.  1999