Dr. Jiraporn Ruangsittichai Assistant Professor

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jiraporn.rua@mahidol.ac.th
+66 (0) 2354 9100, Ext 1574

Background

Dr Jiraporn Ruangsittichai is involved in both teaching and research. She teaches students in MSc and PhD courses at the Bangkok School of Tropical Medicine and has obtained the Royal Golden Jubilee- PhD scholarship from the Thailand Research Fund for her PhD student.

In her research she works with international colleagues from the University of Tsukuba, Japan and the Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier III, France including a warm connection to the Thai research community at Kasetsart University.

Her primary research is molecular identification of medically important arthropods using DNA barcoding, a method that uses universal primers designed on the DNA of mitochondria – a organelle found in all higher cells . She is interested in developing new methods of solving questions regarding species complex in arthropod populations.

Affiliations

Department of Medical Entomology

Research

Her research focuses on the use of molecular biology for classification of arthropods. In 2011-2013, she received two grants from the Thailand Research Fund and Mahidol University for her DNA barcoding project “DNA barcoding of medical arthropods”. Universal primers, designed to amplify the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1), are used in DNA barcoding to differentiate species that are otherwise impossible to distinguish through morphology alone, such as in the case of members of a species complex or closely related insect species. The arthropod specimens are collected and DNA barcode sequences has analyzed and stored for reference at the Department of Medical Entomology.

She received another grant from the Thailand Research Fund in 2015 based on her project “The efficacy of herbal plant on insecticidal activity of mosquito vectors and antiprotozoal activity”. The aim is to find some natural products capable of replacing chemical insecticides.

Qualifications

2006 Biology PhD Mahidol University, Thailand
1999 Medical Technology BSc Mahidol University, Thailand

Research Areas

  • Molecular biology
  • Medical entomology and parasitology

Publications

Selected publications by Dr Jiraporn Ruangsittichai are listed below. The full list can be seen in NCBI.

Selected Publications

DNA barcode identification of freshwater snails in the family Bithyniidae from Thailand.
Kulsantiwong J, Prasopdee S, Ruangsittichai J, Ruangjirachuporn W, Boonmars T, Viyanant V, Pierossi P, Hebert PD, Tesana S.
PloS one. 2013; 8(11):e79144.

Interspecific and sexual shape variation in the filariasis vectors Mansonia dives and Ma. bonneae.
Ruangsittichai J, Apiwathnasorn C, Dujardin JP.
Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases. 2011; 11(8):2089-94.

Utility of a set of conserved mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene primers for Mansonia annulata identification.
Rueanghiran C, Apiwathnasorn C, Sangthong P, Samung Y, Ruangsittichai J.
The Southeast Asian journal of tropical medicine and public health. 2011; 42(6):1381-7.