Understanding how tuberculosis bacteria survive drugs and how to stop them
Official title: A systems analysis of drug tolerance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Funded at Institute for Systems Biology · NIH-11372998 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Aimed at making tuberculosis treatments faster and more effective by studying how the bacteria evade drugs inside the body.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Institute for Systems Biology NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Seattle, United States) |
| Project start | December 1, 2016 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $822,823 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AI128215-10 |
| Project ID | NIH-11372998 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Individuals with active or latent tuberculosis who may benefit from improved treatment strategies in the future.
✕Less likely to help
Patients currently under standard therapy outside of research settings may not directly benefit.
What this research studies
This project studies how Mycobacterium tuberculosis changes its behavior in different host environments and why some bacterial cells resist drug treatment. It uses advanced lab systems and single-cell techniques to map regulatory and metabolic pathways that enable drug tolerance. The goal is to identify combinations of drugs that work together to eliminate these hard-to-kill subpopulations and prevent resistance. The research builds on methods that reveal dormant or slow-growing bacterial states and tests new drug pairings in model systems that mimic human infection.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could lead to faster, more effective tuberculosis treatment regimens and reduce the chance of drug resistance.
How similar studies have gone: Earlier studies have shown that targeting heterogeneous bacterial states can improve drug efficacy, with ongoing work extending these approaches.
Where this research is happening
-
Institute for Systems Biology
Seattle, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Baliga, Nitin S — Institute for Systems Biology
- Study coordinator: Baliga, Nitin S
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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.