Dr Maggy Lord

Researcher biography
Dr Lord currently leads the Lord lab within the School of the Environment at the University of Queensland. The Lord lab research focuses on developing novel and rapid next generation surveillance and diagnostic tools for detection of pathogens in humans, animals and the environment and for characterising disease carrying vectors. Their current specialisation include the development of non-invasive tools based on spectroscopy techniques. Dr Lord pioneered the application of near-infrared spectroscopy technique for non-invasive detection of several pathogens in mosquito vectors such as Wolbachia, Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya and for differentiation of morphologically identical mosquito species. Her lab recently pioneered its application for non-invasive detection of malaria through tthe skin of people in partnership with the Australian Defence Force and Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil.
In the last 5 years, the Lord team attracted multi-site, national and international research funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, NHMRC, AQIRF and Grand challenges Canada as the Chief Investigator to develop rapid tools for large scale surveillance of vector control programs
Current Research interests: Development of spectroscopy tools for ports of entry for rapid identification of exotic insect species, detection of pathogens in humans and the environment
STEM Spotlight is a STEM mentorship program directed by Dr Lord whose main aim is to increase the uptake into STEM of Students from Culturally Diverse Backgrounds in QLD and the only one of its kind in Australia https://science.uq.edu.au/article/2023/09/dr-maggy-lord-recognised-2023-diversity-and-inclusion-champion