Gvantsa Chanturia, PhD, Head of Department for Virology, Molecular Biology and Genome Research, R. G. Lugar Center for Public Health Research, National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) of Georgia.

PhD scientist with the background in molecular biology, biosafety and experience in the field of especially dangerous pathogens (EDP) in BSL-3 environment. Has a qualification of work in various private and Governmental institutions as serologist, bacteriologist and molecular biologist. She joined the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC) since 2002. In 2013, she became the head of the Virology, Molecular Biology and Genome Research Department at NCDC-Lugar Center for Public Health Research. She is responsible for the everyday activities of the department including serology and molecular diagnostic of different EDP and other infections; influenza, poliosurveillance; molecular genotyping of bacterial and viral pathogens, whole genome sequencing using next generation sequencing capability (Illumina MiSeq) and data analysis with bioinformatics tools. She has participated in a number of scientific projects as a project manager or laboratory investigator. Recently she was the PI of DTRA funded project - “Characterization of NCDC Strain Repository by Next Generation Sequencing”.