The UCSF Clinical Microbiology Laboratory is a CLIA-certified diagnostic laboratory at UCSF validating next-generation sequencing-based assays for infectious disease diagnostics. Licensed by CLIA and the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the laboratory is able to develop and run tests that can be used in the diagnosis, management, and treatment of patients.

Led by Drs. Steve Miller and Charles Chiu, the clinical microbiology laboratory is actively engaged in translating research discoveries to the clinical diagnostic laboratory. Available now is a clinical metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) assay for diagnosis of meningitis and encephalitis from cerebrospinal fluid. We are currently developing and validating several new assays for (i) sepsis and pneumonia, (ii) Lyme disease and other tickborne infections, and (iii) tests based on the human host response to infection.