Dr Pappu Kumar Mandal is a Medical Microbiologist with expertise in both wet lab microbiological techniques (culture-based and molecular) and microbial genomics.

His skills include clinical sample processing and analysis, primary isolation and phenotyping of clinically important bacteria, whole genome sequencing, microbial genome analysis, and microbiome analysis.

His research interests include surveillance of MDR bacterial pathogens, alternative-to-antibiotic-based therapies for high-risk bacterial pathogens, and exploration of bacteriophages and phage lysins for tackling MDR bacteria.

Dr Mandal has worked on several postgraduate research projects focusing on microbiological investigations of microbial diseases, including otitis media.

Most of his studies have provided an important understanding of treatment failure due to bacterial resistance to prescribed antibiotics. The long-term aim of his research is to find new ways to prevent, diagnose, and manage microbial infections.

In 2024, he started working on a variety of initiatives at NSW Health Pathology at the John Hunter Hospital. These studies include genomic surveillance of bacterial strains that cause upper respiratory illnesses and ear diseases in children and young adults in Hunter New England.