Tuberculosis

The incidence of multi-drug resistance tuberculosis is rising in many resource-poor regions of the world, significantly complicating the management of this deadly disease. Dr. Soleymani’s research group at McMaster is developing a handheld electronic platform for inexpensive diagnosis and treatment selection of TB, which will save lives and improve health in the most resource poor regions of the world.

Much of the developing world has no access to basic screening technology for tuberculosis, a disease that affects a third of the world’s population and was responsible for 1.7 million deaths in 2009. We are going to build a $1000 digital X-ray detector to accurately and rapidly detect tuberculosis in these underserved populations. Follow Karim S. Karim on Twitter @karim_s_karim"

There is a lack of an accurate, rapid, low-cost test for Tuberculosis which is difficult to diagnose. Partnering with industry, they are aiming to develop a simple strip test for extra-pulmonary TB in India, validate and commercialize it, and make it affordable for under $2/test, by combining technological and business-model innovation.

Jonathan Blackburn of the University of Cape Town in South Africa will use tuberculosis as a model disease to develop a low-cost, hand-held biosensor that combines the selectivity of antigen-specific DNA aptamers with the exceptional specificity of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy in order to reliably quantify pathogen biomarkers present in patient specimens at the point-of-care.

To validate a telediagnostics system to detect TB and MDR to be utilized in laboratories lacking financial and technical resources, in the settings where most TB occurs. We will enable automatic remote diagnosis using Internet and cellphone telephony.

India accounts for 25% of global tuberculosis (TB) incidence. To evaluate variations in practice quality, and identify ways to improve TB management in India, this project, led by Canada's McGill University, will send researchers into clinics posing as a patient with standard TB symptoms. The project builds on earlier work related to angina, asthma and dysentery, which revealed incorrect diagnoses and treatment. India needs a strategy for measuring and improving quality of TB care. We will use “mystery clients” posing as TB patients to evaluate quality.

Asif Mohammed from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in India will identify miRNA patterns as potential biomarkers as per Receiver Operating Characteristics, to identify quantitative patterns of circulating human miRNAs which can be used as early biomarkers to predict outcome of the anti-TB drug therapy.

The objectives of this project are: 1) elimination of tuberculosis in Casablanca using m-Health service based on smart medication device and service 2) market expansion to a whole Morocco.

Maria Lerm of Linkoping University in Sweden will test her hypothesis that TB latency is a dynamic process in which a portion of the bacilli, when ingested by macrophages, trigger a genetic program where bacteria cycle between active and latent phases. Understanding whether this dynamic cycle exists could give new insights into maintaining or targeting the latent bacteria, which is the major reservoir of TB globally.

Kyu Rhee of Weill Cornell Medical College in the U.S. will test the theory that the tuberculosis (TB) bacterium uses protein-based structures termed metabolosomes to enter into, maintain, and exit from latency or non-replication. Understanding how metabolosomes work will aid in development of drugs that target TB. This project's Phase I research demonstrated that latent or non-replicating M. tuberculosis undergo a metabolic remodeling that is accompanied by the reversible formation of enzyme-based metabolosomes.