Patricia Colque, a long-time co-worker at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet, passed away earlier this week at the age of 77 years.
Patricia, 26, came to Sweden from Chile in 1973. In Chile, she was an agronomist. In Sweden, she took a second education as a biomedical analyst and started working at the National Bacteriological Laboratory (SBL) in the 1980s. In 1988, she moved to Professor Roland Möllbys group at Karolinska Institutet, where she was employed at MTC until today.
Patricia soon developed many skillful techniques and a clear scientific mind. She participated in about 47 scientific articles and graduated in 2010. The main issue of her thesis was the development of techniques for measuring serum antibodies to antigens of Staphylococcus aureus, and their use in diagnosis as well in understanding their protective role in invasive infections. She technically developed the first quantitative test to diagnose serious infections caused by S. aureus, and reagents for that test she has distributed to Swedish hospital laboratories until today. She also used her skills in developing international standards to measure antibodies to Bordetella pertussis in international Vaccine trials in the 1980s.
She further worked with the epidemiology of food/waterborne Escherichia coli infections (e.g. ETEC), and she worked to develop methods for sampling and analysis of wastewater for these purposes, methods that were later used for other infections (e.g. the Covid pandemic. She analyzed single strains and the distribution of these in society, specifically in relation to the spread of antibiotic resistance. In the 30-year university-based collaboration between Sweden (KI) and Nicaragua, she was the key person, who translated anything in both directions as well as kept personal contacts between scientists on both sides.
Patricia was also an enthusiast for teaching and for the "craftsmanship of bacteriology". She taught medical and biomedical students to analyze their own microflora, starting with agar plate cultivations, a task she was responsible for until today. She helped several research students to their PhDs, both in the fields of Staphylococcal and intestinal infections.
Patricia was a very devoted scientist, and very skillful in practical work. She was also a very social person, who knew "everybody" and was well-liked by everyone that knew her. She was a very empathetic person, who cared about everyone, and she took a great responsibility to make sure that the laboratory cooperations functioned well and above all, that everybody in the group got on well and that we all had a good time together.
It is a big loss to MTC that she can no longer share her enthusiasm with the students, and it is a great personal loss to all the colleagues and friends she had in Sweden since 1973. We miss our empathetic and enthusiastic friend so very much.
We also give our thoughts to Patricia's daughters and grandchildren and regret their loss.
Roland Möllby
