Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is a severe disease with global impact. It caused 1.4 million mortalities in 2019. Overcoming this global health crisis depends on developing an effective vaccine.

Despite advances in vaccine development, we do not yet have an effective method of preventing TB. Development of a vaccine has been hindered, in part, by the current incomplete understanding of mechanisms required for inducing the best protective response in the lungs.

Dr Mina Mehanny and Dr John E. Pearl from Ain Shams University and the University of Leicester are measuring the impact of lung exposure to a bacterial protein on anti-tuberculosis immunity.

By testing how the amount and duration of protein exposure affects the function of anti-tuberculosis immune cells, the team hope to better understand how to induce protective responses in the lungs. This could support the development of new vaccines for TB.

This project has been funded by the 2022 Dorothy Temple Cross International Collaboration Grant.

This project will also provide in-depth, participatory training in state-of-the-art animal laboratory techniques, including low dose aerosol infection of mice. This training supports an important international collaboration between UK and African researchers and enhances global capacity building for essential research against TB.

This project has been funded by the 2022 Dorothy Temple Cross International Collaboration Grant.