Adrian Marcelo Zelazny, Ph.D., D(ABMM)

Dr. Zelazny's basic research interests include host-pathogen interactions and the evolution of mycobacteria in outbreaks and in persistent infections.

Dr. Zelazny joined the NIH Microbiology Service in 2008 following completion of the NIH ASM-CPEP-approved Postdoctoral Training Program in Clinical Microbiology and the board certification exam. He became chief of the Department of Laboratory Medicine’s Microbiology Service in 2021.

Dr. Zelazny has been the Head of the Mycobacteriology Laboratory in the Microbiology Service since 2008. He was also the director of the NIH Clinical Microbiology Fellowship program from 2012 to 2020.

The Mycobacteriology laboratory maintains a large, on-going collection of clinical isolates of mycobacteria used for patient-care and research purposes.

One major goal of the laboratory is the development of novel proteomic and genomic-based diagnostic assays. Under Dr. Zelazny’s direction, the laboratory has pioneered the use of MALDI TOF mass spectrometry for the identification of mycobacteria and fungi and developed new diagnostic assays for identification and typing of rapidly growing mycobacteria and in particular M. abscessus and more recently the evaluation of a proteomic method direct detection of mycobacteria in patient samples.