Christopher Stefan, Ph.D. is the Branch Chief of the Developmental Diagnostics Branch in the Diagnostics Systems Division at USAMRIID.  Currently his research focuses on diagnostic technologies targeting pathogens of interest that can be adapted and implemented to help the warfighter in field forward settings as well as assays that benefit model system development and investigator studies within USAMRIID. His branch works on several areas of diagnostic development including 1) Targeted Next-Generation sequencing assays for the Illumina and Oxford Nanopore platforms 2) Development of molecular antimicrobial susceptibility tests for antibiotic resistant biothreats 3) Development of next-generation diagnostics including CRISPR-Cas12a and isothermal amplification methods 4) Optimization and evaluation of sample preparation technologies 5) Design and development of real-time PCR and digital PCR assays for detection and quantification and 6) Host biomarker discovery including transcriptomics, small RNAs, proteomics, and epigenetics.  These combined efforts have led to the development of a diagnostic toolbox increasing our preparedness in the event of a biological event and laid the foundation to quickly adapt to novel emerging threats.

Stefan CP, Hall AT, Graham AS, Minogue TD. Comparison of Illumina and Oxford Nanopore Sequencing Technologies for Pathogen Detection from Clinical Matrices Using Molecular Inversion Probes. J Mol Diagn. 2022 Apr;24(4):395-405. doi: 10.1016/j.jmoldx.2021.12.005. Epub 2022 Jan 25. PMID: 35085783.

Stefan CP, Arnold CE, Shoemaker CJ, Zumbrun EE, Altamura LA, Douglas CE, Taylor-Howell CL, Graham AS, Delp KL, Blancett CD, Ricks KM, Olschner SP, Shamblin JD, Wollen SE, Zelko JM, Bloomfield HA, Sprague TR, Esham HL, Minogue TD. Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Host miRNAs Correlated with Immune Gene Dysregulation during Fatal Disease Progression in the Ebola Virus Cynomolgus Macaque Disease Model. Microorganisms. 2021; 9(3):665. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9030665

Sichtig H, Minogue T, Yan Y, Stefan C, Hall A, Tallon L, Sadzewicz L, Nadendla S, Klimke W, Hatcher E, Shumway M, Aldea DL, Allen J, Koehler J, Slezak T, Lovell S, Schoepp R, Scherf U. FDA-ARGOS is a database with public quality-controlled reference genomes for diagnostic use and regulatory science. Nat Commun. 2019 Jul 25;10(1):3313. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11306-6. PMID: 31346170; PMCID: PMC6658474.

key words

Diagnostics; Detection, Infectious Disease, PCR, Next-generation sequencing, Molecular Biology

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens, permanent residents and non-U.S. citizens

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral and Senior applicants