Open Labs Fellow/s

Estefanía Urdániz

GSK’s contribution

Project Description

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major cause of human mortality; approximately two billion people are infected with the causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb). The emergence of resistant strains has become a serious public health problem worldwide complicating treatment and control of the disease. The development of reporter mycobacteriophages was described as a simple means of revealing the metabolic state of M. tb cells, and therefore their response to antibiotics. Based on this innovative approach, our aim is to develop a simple and rapid methodology that can speed the process of discovery of new anti-TB drugs. This phage-technology can be used for both in vitro and in vivo activity testing of compounds in a full-scale, fast and sensitive assay.

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