2008-2010 K-RITH Steering Committee Grants

These awards were made by the K-RITH Steering Committee as part of an External Grants Programme that aimed to foster collaborations and founding partnerships with scientists who could assist with establishing K-RITH as an independent research institute.
 

Jacqueline Achkar, M.D.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, New York, USA

Current TB testing is so slow that patients with drug-resistant forms of the disease often die before they can be properly treated. Working with colleagues Sarita Shah and Douglas Wilson, Jacqueline Achkar is trying out faster tests for tuberculosis (TB) on patients living in Tugela Ferry, KwaZulu-Natal. The patients will include adults and children who are HIV positive and HIV negative.

http://www.einstein.yu.edu/medicine/infectiousdiseases/infectious_profile.asp?id=10390

Marcus Altfeld, M.D., Ph.D.

Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

The main reason for the high rate of TB in AIDS patients is that their immune response is compromised. Scientists have suggested that the immune function of some types of white blood cell may be impaired. Marcus Altfeld’s laboratory is testing this hypothesis to find out whether innate immune system cells are less able to attack TB bacteria during the early stages of an HIV-1 infection, which would leave infected patients at greater risk of TB.

http://www.ragoninstitute.org/research_altfeld.html

Sarah Fortune, M.D.

Harvard University School of Public Health
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Scientists have identified regions of genetic variability among different strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is unclear whether these differences contribute to different clinical outcomes. Sarah Fortune is working to determine whether different TB strains use different genetic strategies to grow and cause disease in infected individuals, using high-throughput sequencing techniques developed by her colleague Eric Rubin.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty/sarah-fortune/

Graham Hatfull, Ph.D.

University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Diagnosis and drug susceptibility testing for TB can take several weeks, and a rapid, inexpensive, point-of-care diagnostic test is needed. Graham Hatfull studies mycobacteriophages—viruses that infect TB bacteria—and he hopes to use them to develop clinical tools for TB control as well as new tools for tuberculosis genetic testing. One potential application is the use of phages as a rapid, sensitive test for determining drug susceptibilities of TB in sputum samples. This work has already proven promising and preclinical tests have begun.

http://www.pitt.edu/~biohome/faculty/hatfull.html

Prashini Moodley, M.B.Ch.B., M.Med., Ph.D.

University of KwaZulu-Natal
Durban, South Africa

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) forms of TB have made the management of the disease very difficult. Prashini Moodley is testing the effectiveness of second- and third-line antituberculosis drugs on drug-resistant forms of TB from South Africa and other African countries, including Mozambique, Botswana, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She is also analyzing DNA differences that may confer drug resistance. As part of her infection prevention and control activities, Moodley is currently studying how the South African Department of Health’s recommendation to integrate the HIV and TB clinics will impact the TB transmission.

D. Branch Moody, M.D.

Brigham & Women's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Branch Moody is using patient cells to study the immune system’s response to lipid antigens from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with the goal of using cells from patient samples in KwaZulu-Natal as the basis for vaccines and immunotherapies. He is also studying the 10,000 components of the TB cell wall to identify key molecules to target for drug therapy.

http://www.hms.harvard.edu/dms/immunology/fac/Moody.html

Yunus Moosa, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D.

University of KwaZulu-Natal
Durban, South Africa

In about 30 percent of patients who are co-infected with HIV and TB, the immune system overreacts to a common treatment known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). In these patients, immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome confounds the management of AIDS in the first few months of treatment. In collaboration with K-RITH founding scientist Bruce Walker, Yunus Moosa is examining the immune system of patients in treatment for both TB and AIDS, looking for the mechanism underlying this immune system overreaction. Moosa is also working to improve the sensitivity of sputum smear detection of TB.

Thumbi Ndung'u, Ph.D.

University of KwaZulu-Natal
Durban, South Africa

Thumbi Ndung'u studies the body’s immune response to HIV, how the virus responds to the immune system, and the interaction between the virus and other cells and proteins in the body. He hopes to shed light on why some individuals have a lowered susceptibility to infection with HIV by comparing the immune system and other host genetic factors of high-risk people who are HIV-1-negative versus HIV-infected individuals. He is also comparing the genetic sequences of the AIDS virus in individuals who are able to control the infection with those from infected individuals who progress to full-blown AIDS.

Alexander Pym, M.D.

University of KwaZulu-Natal
Durban, South Africa

Alexander Pym has been investigating the genetic variation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in KwaZulu-Natal, where the high prevalence of HIV infection is impacting transmission rates and is exerting selective pressure on the host's immune response. In collaboration with colleagues at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, he is working to connect these variations with the bacterium’s ability to infect humans and its ability to resist anti-TB drugs.

Eric Rubin, M.D., Ph.D.

Harvard University School of Public Health
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Mycobacterium tuberculosisis is made up of distinctive molecules. Eric Rubin wants to exploit that trait to develop a rapid test for TB. He is developing assays specific for cell wall components and will build up his research capacity in Durban so he can help evaluate new TB tests.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty/eric-rubin/

Sarita Shah, M.D., M.P.H.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, New York, USA
Current TB testing is so slow that patients with drug-resistant forms of the disease often die before they can be diagnosed and properly treated. TB diagnosis in children is even more difficult because of the added challenge of getting an adequate specimen for testing. Working with colleagues Neel Gandhi and Prashini Moodley, Shah is trying to identify the best way to collect and test samples for TB from children living in Tugela Ferry, KwaZulu-Natal. The patients include children who are HIV positive and HIV negative.

http://www.einstein.yu.edu/faculty/profile.asp?id=10560, www.tfcares.org

Douglas Wilson, M.B.Ch.B.

Edendale Hospital, KwaZulu-Natal
Peitermaritzburg, South Africa
Wilson recently published a paper on the prevalence of TB in people who were autopsied in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Working with colleague Jacqueline Achkar, he is now investigating whether blood levels of C-reactive protein, a protein long known to be elevated in patients with active TB and for which rapid tests are already available, can be used as a diagnostic screening tool for TB.


 

Collaboration