Professor Adrian Martineau from the Queen Mary University London talks to us about the limitations of current latent TB infection diagnosis and how we can do better.  his research into whether we can use fragments of TB DNA found in bone marrow cells to better predict who should be treated with Tuberculosis Preventative Treatment. REFERENCES Martineau, Adrian R., et al. "Towards a molecular microbial blood test for tuberculosis infection." International Journal of Infectious Diseases (2024): 106988. Belay, Mulugeta, et al. "Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex DNA in CD34-pos ..read more

Professor Adrian Martineau from the Queen Mary University London talks to us about the limitations of current latent TB infection diagnosis and how we can do better.  his research into whether we can use fragments of TB DNA found in bone marrow cells to better predict who should be treated with Tuberculosis Preventative Treatment. REFERENCES Martineau, Adrian R., et al. "Towards a molecular microbial blood test for tuberculosis infection." International Journal of Infectious Diseases (2024): 106988. Belay, Mulugeta, et al. "Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex DNA in CD34-pos ..read more

Today we discuss the MTBVAC with Dr Montañés. MTBVAC is an attenuated vaccine from a human mycobacterial isolate which has just progressed to a phase 3 trial and shown very promising results in the phase 2 study. Dr Montañés has been involved in this project for over a decade and has an incredible insight into the development and promise of this vaccine for global TB epidemiology. References Martín, Carlos, et al. "MTBVAC, a live TB vaccine poised to initiate efficacy trials 100 years after BCG." Vaccine 39.50 (2021): 7277-7285. Achkar, Jacqueline M. "Prospects and challenges of a new live t ..read more

Prof Greg Fox speaks with Prof Philip Hill about TB household contact tracing and building research capacity in TB. Prof Hill is an ID specialist and public health physician who did his PhD in TB Epidemiology. He is the current McAuley Chair in International Health as well as being Founding Direction & Co-Director of the Centre for International Health at the University of Otago. References 1) Martinez, Leonardo, et al. "The risk of tuberculosis in children after close exposure: a systematic review and individual-participant meta-analysis." The Lancet 395.10228 (2020): 973-984. 2) Hill ..read more

Today we speak with Dr Guglielmetti about the END-TB trial which looks at new all oral regimens for MDR-TB. REFERENCES 1) https://endtb.org/ 2) Nyang’wa, Bern-Thomas, et al. "A 24-week, all-oral regimen for rifampin-resistant tuberculosis." New England Journal of Medicine 387.25 (2022): 2331-2343. 3) Conradie, Francesca, et al. "Treatment of highly drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis." New England Journal of Medicine 382.10 (2020): 893-902. 4) Diacon, Andreas H., et al. "Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and culture conversion with bedaquiline." New England Journal of Medicine 371.8 (2014 ..read more

Today we delve into the world of TB diagnostics and the future of leveraged TB technologies with Dr Morten Ruhwald. Dr Ruhwald is a the head of the TB programme over at FIND, an institution dedicated to accelerating equitable access to reliable diagnosis around the world. Dr Ruhwald elaborates on the current state of TB diagnostics, new clinical strategies, usability factors,  and future TB perspectives. https://www.finddx.org/what-we-do/programmes/tuberculosis/ https://www.actnet.org.au ..read more

Today we speak with Dr Clifton Barry from NIH in Bethesda, Maryland who is head of the most highly cited research group in the field of TB over the past year and has made extraordinary contributions to TB drug development. Dr Barry speaks about his involvement in the PREDICT TB study, the TB Drug Accelerator and some of the most exciting drug developments in recent years. REFERENCES Green, Simon R., et al. "Lysyl-tRNA synthetase, a target for urgently needed M. tuberculosis drugs." Nature communications 13.1 (2022): 5992. https://predict-tb.com/ Lange, Christoph, Clifton E. Barry III, and C ..read more

Today we get an update on where the TB Vaccine pipeline is up to, how TB vaccines work and what exciting candidates might be on the horizon. We speak with Professor Jamie Triccas from the University of Sydney about his work as the principal investigator on the Advancing Vaccine Adjuvant Research for Tuberculosis (AVAR-T) which is an NIH funded project to identify the most promising adjuvant-TB immunogenicity candidates for development. REFERENCES Stewart, Erica, James A. Triccas, and Nikolai Petrovsky. "Adjuvant strategies for more effective tuberculosis vaccine immunity." Microorganisms 7.8 ..read more

Today we speak with Prof Mola, Dr Welch and Dr Visiliu about their amazing work tackling TB in pregnancy in Papua New Guinea. They talk about the epidemiological, geographical and social challenges of providing maternal TB care in PNG along with some insights into treatment and control. REFERENCES: Hamada, Yohhei, et al. "The safety of isoniazid tuberculosis preventive treatment in pregnant and postpartum women: systematic review and meta-analysis." European Respiratory Journal 55.3 (2020). Gupta, Amita, et al. "Timing of maternal isoniazid preventive therapy on tuberculosis infection among ..read more

Today we speak with Professor Justin Denholm about his work with the National TB Advisory Committee in Australia and the role whole genome sequencing (WGS) has in public health. Professor Denholm talks about how WGS is expanding the way we think about tuberculosis and how this WGS can bring us into a new age of TB elimination strategy. REFERENCES 1. Ferdinand, Angeline S., et al. "An implementation science approach to evaluating pathogen whole genome sequencing in public health." Genome Medicine 13 (2021): 1-11. 2. Dale, Katie, et al. "Whole genome sequencing for tuberculosis in Victoria, Au ..read more