Leicester Tuberculosis Research Group

The Leicester Tuberculosis Research Group (LTBRG) is a group of scientists and academic clinicians that is focused on the discovery, development and implementation of knowledge to overcome the health, economic and social impact of tuberculosis (TB) at a local, national and global level.

Our research involves the study of bacterial physiology, host immune responses and clinical disease expression and defining the complex relationships that exist between these domains. The impact of this work includes discovery of novel drug and diagnostic/prognostic targets, determination of immune responses that can inform effective vaccine development as well as biomarkers that offer better characterisation of the host-pathogen relationship, with implementation of this knowledge in experimental medicine studies of transmission and clinical studies of treatment effectiveness.

We have unique access to clinical cohorts with active TB and latent infection (LTBI). Epidemiological studies previously undertaken in these groups has informed National policy change, including the launch in 2015 of a National TB Strategy for England. We have the proven capacity to link bacterial genotyping and physiology to outbreak management. We are developing models of transmission that are entirely novel and involve a multidisciplinary group of engineers, aero-biologists, bacterial physiologists, biological chemists and immunologists. We are pursuing local and international studies of human immunological responses which are integrated into The Gates Foundations interest in vaccine and therapeutics development.

We have overseas connections and collaborations in South Africa, Brazil, The Gambia, China, Kyrgyzstan, and India some of which are established and on-going while others are at the Foundation stage.

Contact: Andrea Cooper or Pranabashis Haldar