By Royal Permission of Professor Dr. Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol, July 4– Her Royal Highness’s Birthday Anniversary – has been designated as Thai Environmental Health Day. On July 4, 2025, Dr. Poonsakdi Ploypradith, Assistant Director and Expert Scientist, Office of Research, Chulabhorn Research Institute (CRI), represented the CRI at the opening ceremony of Thai Environmental Health Day. This year, the Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health, organized the event under the theme “Environmental Health for Healthy Lifestyles and Sustainable Well-Being”. The event aimed to encourage network organizations among public, the private, and community sectors, to recognize the importance of cooperation in environmental health based on the application of appropriate technologies and innovations. These efforts seek to prevent and reduce any potential impacts of rapid environmental changes on people’s livelihood, ultimately contributing to the long-term goal of sustainable development of environmental health. As part of the event, Dr. Punyawee Dulyayangkul, Miss Thitima Srathongneam, and Miss Suleepon Poomchuchit, representing researchers from the CRI’s Laboratory of Biotechnology, organized an exhibition showcasing ongoing research projects conducted by the Laboratory to address antimicrobial resistance issues in a sustainable manner. Their research work includes studies on the mechanisms and contributing factors of antimicrobial resistance, studies and development of indicators for identifying pollutant-contaminated water, and the management of antibiotics and toxic substances in water...

Professor Dr. Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol has achieved a groundbreaking milestone in the research, development, and production of a “trastuzumab” biosimilar used in cancer treatment. From upstream to downstream processes, this innovation was accomplished entirely by Thai researchers without relying on foreign technology transfer. It marks Thailand’s first biosimilar developed domestically for the benefit of the Thai people. The drug officially named “HERDARA” was granted registration license from the Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Public Health, on May 20, 2025. It is generally known that cancer remains the number one cause of death in Thailand and tends to increase while the medicines to treat the disease are expensive as they have to be imported. With Her vision to address health issues of the Thai people, Her Royal Highness has tirelessly committed to Thailand’s medical and public health development. Recognizing people’s difficulties in having access to very expensive biologics efficient in treating diseases, especially cancer, Her Royal Highness has taken the initiative and laid the foundation to develop biologics domestically under the Project “Center for Biologics Research and Development”. Her Royal Highness directed researchers at the Chulabhorn Research Institute (CRI) to brainstorm for the invention and development of biosimilars that meet international standards and ensure therapeutic efficacy. These efforts not only enhance national self-reliance in biologic medicines but...

On Thursday, April 10, 2025, a team of researchers from the Laboratory of Biotechnology, Chulabhorn Research Institute, consisting of Dr. Kwanrawee Sirikanchana and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rojana Sukchawalit, Research Scientists II, Miss Thitima Srathongneam and Miss Benya Nontaleerak, Research Scientists, as well as Mr. Phongsawat Paisantham, Assistant Researcher, attended a hearing on proposals to improve the Notification of the Department of Health on the Act to Control Legionella in Cooling Towers in Buildings in Thailand B.E. 2544 (2001), organized by the Bureau of Environmental Health, Department of Health. The event was held from 1.30-4.30 p.m. at the Chid Chaiyawong Meeting Room, Building 5, 5th Floor, Department of Health. During the hearing, the CRI research team presented a set of proposals aimed at improving the Notification based on studies, reviews, and analyses of academic information, as well as recommended a guideline for the management of environmental health to control Legionella in buildings so that the Notification is up-to-date and appropriate for current situations and technology. These proposals presented in the hearing also supported the drafted suggestions of the Public Health Committee on the guideline for the management of environmental health to prevent and control Legionella in various business establishments. In support of these efforts, the CRI has prepared a manual on the management of environmental health to control Legionella in buildings...

Special Seminar on Water and Wastewater Microbiology On 16 November 2018, Chulabhorn Research Institute held a special seminar on two presentations entitled “The (not so) odd couple – enteric human viruses and free-living amoeba co-existing in complex water matrices” and “Interactions between Arcobacter and free-living amoebae in wastewater” by Dr. Mats Leifels and Mariem Oloroso, both visiting from the School of Public Health, University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Professor Emeritus Dr. Skorn Mongkolsuk, the Director of Laboratory of Biotechnology at CRI delivered a welcome speech for the speakers. Dr. Mats Leifels presented the work being co-authored by Dr. Rafik Dey, Alyssa Wiedemeyer, and Professor Nicholas. J. Ashbolt. He summarized that the role of the ubiquitous free-living amoeba (FLA) as a reservoir of enteric bacterial pathogens in natural and artificial water bodies and an important factor in the acquisition of virulence for water-based pathogens like Legionella pneumophila are well described (Thomas and Ashbolt, 2011). At the same time, it has been shown that enteric viruses such as human Adenovirus (HAdV) could be detected in the water phase, biolithic Biofilms and Sediments –both latter are environments known as habitats of freshwater FLA such as various Acanthamoeba, Naegleria and Vermamoeba species- of an Urban River in Essen, Germany making it likely that interaction occurs in between those pathogens which have been shown...

Three international Courses on Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Health are planned for summer 2017: “Global Occupational and Environmental Determinants of Diseases: a multidisciplinary approach for prevention“, July 10-14, at the University of Brescia, Italy; “Advanced International Training Course in Occupational and Environmental Health“, July 17-21, at the Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bangkok, Thailand; “Teaching interventions crossing borders“, August 21-September 1, at the Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich, Germany. In addition to high-quality, hands-on training in occupational health and safety, these courses provide unique opportunities for networking among OEH professionals from both high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries and for developing multi-national approaches to continuing education that extend beyond the courses. Students and faculty attending the three courses are encouraged to provide information about occupational and environmental health in their countries including such aspects as OHS services coverage and organization; workers’ benefits and compensation; ratification and implementation of ILO and WHO policies; preventive interventions in environmental health; and remediation of hazardous waste sites. To provide an opportunity for young OEH professionals to publish their work in a peer-reviewed journal, students and faculty participating in the courses are invited to submit publications in a special issue of the Annals of Global Health that will be specifically dedicated to Occupational and Environmental Global Health and guest edited by the Directors...

The 8th Princess Chulabhorn International Science Congress was held during the week of November 13-17, 2016 to commemoratethe seventieth anniversary of the accession to the throne of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the seventh cycle (84 years) birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit. The theme of the Congress, “Environmental Health: Inter-linkages among the Environment, Chemicals and Infectious Agents”, is in line with the views of Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn, who has consistently emphasized the importance of research and development in environmental health, which can integrate the fields of environmental science, chemical safety and infectious agents. The Congress included a keynote lecture, a Nobel laureate lecture, plenary sessions, symposia, and a roundtable discussion. There were also 16 platform presentations and 159 poster presentations displaying research conducted by congress participants. The Congress involved a total of 75 invited speakers from 20 countries and over 700 participants from 29 countries. The Opening Keynote Lecture was given by Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn on the topic of, “Environmental Health: The Significance of Early Life Chemical Exposures”. Her Royal Highness provided a general overview of the public health problems facing the developing world that are a major obstacle to sustainable development because they impact not only the health of the present generations but also future ones. She provided a specific example on arsenic...