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    Centenary Institute > Tuberculosis Research Program

Tuberculosis Research Program

Prof Warwick Britton
Worldwide, Tuberculosis (TB) is the 13th leading cause of death and the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19.

In 2020, an estimated 10 million people fell ill, and 1.5 million people died from TB worldwide. In addition, TB remains a significant cause of childhood illness and mortality in high burden countries. In 2020, 1.1 million children fell ill with TB globally, and 205,000 child deaths were due to TB. Child and adolescent TB is often overlooked by health providers and can be challenging to diagnose and treat. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis and a health security threat. Only about one in three people with drug-resistant TB accessed treatment in 2020.

Of importance to Australia, TB is an enormous and rapidly growing problem in our region, which contains 58% of global TB cases and 56% of multi-drug resistant TB.

While 98% of reported TB cases are in low- and middle-income countries, TB is present in all countries and age groups. An estimated 66 million lives were saved through TB diagnosis and treatment between 2000 and 2020. Our approach to tackling Tuberculosis research is through a range of measures. Through developing new vaccines and drugs, improving our understanding of TB immunology, discovering new biomarkers, and contributing to public policy and practice. As a part of the Centre of Research Excellence in Tuberculosis Control, we have the platform to translate discoveries into more effective tools to control TB.

Understanding disease

As a result, our STOP-TB strategy calls for intensified research into more effective tools to control TB, including entirely new approaches to TB vaccines, TB drugs and tools for the diagnosis of active TB and biomarkers to monitor the response to therapy.

 

Finding a cure

We are developing vaccines for delivery to the lung to boost immunity against TB. We are also developing subunit vaccines that contain proteins to stimulate protective immunity against different stages of TB infection.

Around 2 million people have latent TB infection, with approximately 5% risk of developing active TB during their lifetime. As such, we are working to discover new biomarkers to distinguish those with active TB. We are also conducting a genome-wide association study to identify genetic variants that contribute to increased susceptibility to TB.

The primary threat to TB control is the emergence of drug-resistant strains of the infection. For the past five years, we have also been working towards developing new drugs that are effective against these increasingly prevalent drug-resistant strains.

 

Prevention

Recently, the Tuberculosis Research Program has undertaken a novel TB vaccine project, together with University of Sydney Prof Richard Payne, and have developed a method for rapid synthesis of safe vaccines. The method has been demonstrated with a new vaccine for use against TB which has generated a powerful protective immune response in mice (read more here). The group has also collaborated with Prof Jamie Triccas and Dr Claudio Counoupas in developing and testing BCG:CoVac – a BCG-adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate which they have shown to demonstrate complete protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice (read more here). Up next, the Tuberculosis Research Program will work with the Centenary UTS Centre for Inflammation on a TB and COVID co-infection study in mice – defining the impact of chronic lung disease on COVID-19 and developing effective therapies.

 

Head

Professor Warwick Britton AO

Head of Tuberculosis Research Program

Themes

  • Inflammation

    Inflammation

Head

  • Professor Warwick Britton AO

    Head of Tuberculosis Research Program

    Phone number Phone Number +61 2 9565 6263

    Email Email w.britton@centenary.org.au

Research Fields

  • Tuberculosis

Topics

  • Infectious diseases ,

Publications

Recent publications

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For access to all Publications via Pub Med.

Understanding disease

As a result, our STOP-TB strategy calls for intensified research into more effective tools to control TB, including entirely new approaches to TB vaccines, TB drugs and tools for the diagnosis of active TB and biomarkers to monitor the response to therapy.

 

Finding a cure

We are developing vaccines for delivery to the lung to boost immunity against TB. We are also developing subunit vaccines that contain proteins to stimulate protective immunity against different stages of TB infection.

Around 2 million people have latent TB infection, with approximately 5% risk of developing active TB during their lifetime. As such, we are working to discover new biomarkers to distinguish those with active TB. We are also conducting a genome-wide association study to identify genetic variants that contribute to increased susceptibility to TB.

The primary threat to TB control is the emergence of drug-resistant strains of the infection. For the past five years, we have also been working towards developing new drugs that are effective against these increasingly prevalent drug-resistant strains.

 

Prevention

Recently, the Tuberculosis Research Program has undertaken a novel TB vaccine project, together with University of Sydney Prof Richard Payne, and have developed a method for rapid synthesis of safe vaccines. The method has been demonstrated with a new vaccine for use against TB which has generated a powerful protective immune response in mice (read more here). The group has also collaborated with Prof Jamie Triccas and Dr Claudio Counoupas in developing and testing BCG:CoVac – a BCG-adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate which they have shown to demonstrate complete protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice (read more here). Up next, the Tuberculosis Research Program will work with the Centenary UTS Centre for Inflammation on a TB and COVID co-infection study in mice – defining the impact of chronic lung disease on COVID-19 and developing effective therapies.

 

Head

Professor Warwick Britton AO

Head of Tuberculosis Research Program

News

  • Grant supports new COVID-19 nasal vaccine research

    Research led by the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney – focused on the development of a new nasal COVID-19 vaccine – has received close to $1m in grant funding from the NSW COVID-19 Vaccine Acceleration Research Grants Program.
    Date 22 Dec 2022
  • New nasal vaccine strategy could improve COVID-19 protection

    Researchers from the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney have developed a new nasal vaccination strategy that induces potent lung immunity and protection against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
    Date 16 Nov 2022
    Dr Anneliese Ashhurst respiratory researcher Dr Anneliese Ashhurst respiratory researcher
  • TB shown to remodel lymph nodes affecting immune response

    Centenary Institute and University of Sydney PhD student, Lina Daniel, is lead author on a newly published paper that has found that Mycobacterium tuberculosis remodels the architecture of the lymph nodes – limiting the immune system’s ability to overcome tuberculosis (TB) infection.
    Date 08 Nov 2022
  • ABC Radio Sydney interviews Professor Angelo Izzo

    The Centenary Institute’s Professor Angelo Izzo has talked about the burden of tuberculosis (TB) on society and his role in looking to develop a next-generation vaccine to help combat the devastating disease, in an interview on ABC Radio Sydney’s Drive program.
    Date 30 Sep 2022
  • New vaccine research aims to conquer TB

    The Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney, together with collaborators, have been awarded an AU$19 million contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop the next generation of tuberculosis (TB) vaccines.
    Date 29 Sep 2022
    Professor Warwick Britton AO, is lead investigator on Tuberculosis Professor Warwick Britton AO, is lead investigator on Tuberculosis
  • New method to assist fast-tracking of vaccines for pre-clinical tests

    Scientists in Australia have developed a method for the rapid synthesis of safe vaccines, an approach that can be used to test vaccine strategies against novel pandemic pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.Ê
    Date 18 Jan 2021
  • Pathway to eliminating antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis in the Pacific

    Australian researchers, including from the Centenary Institute have been awarded funding for a major project that aims to eliminate both active and latent tuberculosis (TB) found on Kiribati, an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean. The project will also support multidrug-resistant TB control education and management through the Pacific region.
    Date 30 Jun 2020
  • Biomarker signature found for TB infection

    A group of leading Australian researchers have uncovered a unique blood-based biomarker signature in individuals infected by tuberculosis (TB).
    Date 07 May 2020
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