The Queensland Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory (QMRL) provides diagnostic and reference services in mycobacterial diseases (tuberculosis, atypical mycobacteriosis, Hansens Disease) to public and private pathology laboratories in Queensland.
The facility that was to become the QMRL was founded in the early 1950s to provide laboratory support to the Australian Tuberculosis Campaign. At that time it was one of several specialised service areas within the Laboratory of Microbiology and Pathology (or State Health Laboratory) and was located in the Department of Health and Home Affairs Building in William Street, Brisbane.
The first cultures for tuberculosis in Queensland were performed in the William Street facility in 1951. The Laboratory of Microbiology and Pathology moved to George Street in 1965 where it was co-located with the Brisbane Chest Clinic. With the progressive winding down of the national campaign during the 1970s, the Brisbane laboratory began providing statewide reference services. In April 1999, as part of the reorganisation of Queensland Health Pathology and Scientific Services, the QMRL was relocated to The Prince Charles Hospital. In 2006, the laboratory moved into the new Pathology Queensland Central laboratory at Royal Brisbane Hospital.
The laboratory and its staff have been involved in many clinical and scientific studies of mycobacteria. In the 1960s, isolates of atypical mycobacteria were provided to Dr Ernest Runyon in his landmark studies which demonstrated that mycobacteria other than the classical human tubercle bacillus were indeed pathogenic for humans.
QMRL has collaborated in several studies coordinated by the International Working Group on Mycobacterial Taxonomy which have resulted in definition of several new species of mycobacteria. It was also designated as an international reference laboratory for serotyping Mycobacterium avium. QMRL staff have been involved in the authorship of around 75 peer-reviewed publications and regularly make presentations at national and international conferences.
In 1998, the laboratory was designated World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre in Tuberculosis Bacteriology. The laboratory was invited the join the global network of supranational reference laboratories and participates in the surveillance of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In addition, the laboratory provides training and and external quality assurance support services to countries in the western Pacific region.
QMRL provides the full range of diagnostic tests for mycobacterial disease – microscopy, culture, and direct detection by nucleic acid amplification. More recently, the QMRL has developed a real time quantitative PCR assay for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in processed specimens and paraffin embedded tissues. Speciation and drug susceptibility tests are performed by a variety of phenotypic and molecular techniques including DNA sequence analysis. Variable numbers of tandem DNA repeat typing was introduced in 1999 as a typing strategy for epidemiological investigations. The laboratory is an integral member of the Australian Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory network and is collaborating to develop a national genotyping strategy for Australia using a combination of VNTR typing and mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units (MIRU) typing.
Since the late 1980s, the QMRL has also provided a statewide reference services for clinical isolates of aerobic actinomycetes (nocardia). Work with these organisms has also led to collaboration in international taxonomic studies.
Dr Christopher M Gilpin
Chief Scientist
Queensland Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory
Sir Raphael Cilento Building (Block 7)
Herston Hospitals Complex
HERSTON Q 4029
Tel: +61 7 3636 0032
Fax: +61 7 3636 1336
email: Chris_Gilpin@health.qld.gov.au
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© The State of Queensland (Queensland Health) 2008.