Faster, low-cost TB detection and tools to speed drug discovery
Chemical Mycobateriology
New low-cost tests and faster lab methods to find tuberculosis bacteria and help develop better TB drugs for people with or at risk of TB.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R37 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Stanford University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Stanford, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11161417 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you or your community are affected by TB, this project is building simple fluorescence-based tests that could highlight TB bacteria under inexpensive microscopes. The team is combining these dyes with magnetic beads to pull out bacteria at the point of care so samples are easier to see. In the lab they will use metabolic labeling to speed up drug screening so new treatments can be found faster. They will also study specific mycobacterial lipids to learn how the bacteria cause disease, which could point to new treatment targets.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates would include people with suspected pulmonary TB or people in high-burden, low-resource settings where rapid, simple tests are most needed.
Not a fit: People needing immediate personal treatment decisions or those with TB forms not detectable in sputum (such as some extrapulmonary TB) may not directly benefit from these diagnostic and preclinical lab advances.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Could produce faster, cheaper point-of-care TB diagnostics and shorten the time and cost of discovering new TB drugs.
How similar studies have performed: Fluorescent probes and sample enrichment methods have shown promise in laboratory studies, but applying them to low-cost point-of-care tests and to accelerate drug screens is a newer, partly untested approach.
Where this research is happening
Stanford, United States
- Stanford University — Stanford, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Bertozzi, Carolyn — Stanford University
- Study coordinator: Bertozzi, Carolyn
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.