Dr Tatjana Plješa received her medical education (MD), specialization (Specialist in Microbiology and parasitology) and PhD studies (Clinical and Experimental Bacteriology) at the Medical Faculty, University of Belgrade, Serbia. Dr Plješa is the author of many publications in the field of microbiology and immunology. Dr Plješa has a rich experience in the production and quality control of viral vaccines, bacterial vaccines and diagnostic devices. She was Production Director in the Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera Torlak. She worked in bacterial vaccine production area as Team leader in establishing single-use WAVE technology in the production of pertussis vaccine, diphtheria toxoid and tetanus toxoid projects. Prior to this, Dr Plješa was the Head of Vaccine Production Department, where she managed the production of pertussis vaccine. She was involved in the study of comparing clinical isolates and vaccine strains of Bordetella pertussis by serotyping and genotyping, as a part of the project of surveillance of B. pertussis antigenic divergence and pertussis re-emergence in countries with high vaccination coverage. Dr Plješa participated in the projects of the World Health Organization and the Institute Torlak in the area of vaccines production and control. She published a lot of scientific papers and was present at numerous national and international conferences. She has 15 years of experience in microbiology and biotechnology, in research, quality control, industrial and technology development. Also, she is involved in environmental and food microbiology studies in Public Health Institute of Belgrade, Serbia.

Vaccine production and Quality Control; Bordetella pertussis antigenic divergence and pertussis re-emergence; Public Health; Food microbiology; Environmental microbiology; Clinical Microbiology;