Pimlapas Leekitcharoenphon

Dr. Pimlapas Leekitcharoenphon is a bioinformatician and postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), specializing in whole genome sequencing (WGS) typing and epidemiology. Her research focuses on the short- and long-term evolution of bacterial genomes, particularly foodborne pathogens, and their population structures. Notable achievements in her career include evaluating the use of WGS for sub-typing and outbreak detection of Salmonella enterica, discovering a virulent fragment unique to S. Typhimurium ST313 and S. Dublin, and studying the global epidemiology of S. Typhimurium DT104. Dr. Leekitcharoenphon is actively involved in applying WGS to food safety and public health, particularly concerning antimicrobial resistance, and currently works within the EU Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance. She has facilitated eight international bioinformatics training courses focused on WGS data analysis for detecting foodborne pathogens and has co-supervised four PhD students in genomic epidemiology. With 24 peer-reviewed publications, including eight as the first author, her work has significantly contributed to the field, with her research appearing in high-ranking journals such as PNAS.