Research
Over 10 million people caught tuberculosis (TB) in 2015 and 1.8 million people died of the disease. Globally more than 2 billion people are infected with the causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB remains one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide.
The standard drug therapy for TB uses combinations of 4 drugs over 6 months. The recommended treatment for multidrug-resistant TB lasts 18–24 months or more, with increasingly toxic combinations of second-line drugs. New drug regimens are needed to maintain and improve therapy for tuberculosis, shortening treatment duration and targeting drug-resistant bacteria.
The Waddell lab uses genome-wide technologies to understand TB drug action during human disease, to define M.tuberculosis populations that survive early drug therapy, and to identify the mode of action of novel anti-mycobacterial compounds. Our research also explores the interactions between host and pathogen throughout the disease process using transcriptional signatures derived from immune cells and M.tuberculosis to better explain TB pathogenicity and to reveal novel treatment strategies.