Dalla Lana School of Public Health

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• The Global Implementation Science Seminar Series with Dr. Wilber Sabiiti RSVP

Presented by the Global Implementation Science Lab…

The speaker is Dr. Wilber Sabiiti from the University of St Andrews. Dr Sabiiti is Principal Research Fellow in Medicine (Associate Professor) in the Division of Infection and Global Health, School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, UK. He leads translational research on diagnostic and treatment biomarkers for infectious diseases. His group was the first to develop an RNA-based molecular diagnostic to measure live TB bacteria and monitor treatment response. He is a Principal Investigator of the St Andrews-Africa Health Research network (StAAHR), Co-Chair of the Coalition for Equitable Research in Low Resource Settings (CERCLE) Immunology and Diagnostics Expert Working Group and Co-Chief Investigator of the Africa Vaccine Research Network (AFRIVAXn). He leads translational research initiatives between all regions of Africa and the United Kingdom.

This event is hosted by the Global Implementation Science Lab (GISL) Seminar Series and co-hosted with Dr. Elizabeth Rea. The GISL strives to be the focal point for implementation science research globally. The GISL contributes to the body of knowledge in implementation science with applications that address important health policy issues especially in low- and middle- income countries. The seminar series is one of our key forums for knowledge sharing, training and networking. Seminars are held randomly, with each featuring a new guest speaker and topic. Seminars are open to anyone who wishes to attend.

Join the GISL Seminar Series on September 12th
Talk title: Appling RNA-based technology to diagnose and monitor treatment of latent- and active- tuberculosis

Speaker: Dr. Wilber Sabiiti from University of St Andrews
Date/Time: September 12th, 2024 12 PM – 1 PM EST
Location: Health Science Building Room 650

Talk Abstract
Nearly 30000 people fall ill and over 4000 die of tuberculosis (TB) every day (UNAIDS factsheet). A quarter of the world population are latently infected with TB making a large reservoir of people at risk of developing active (symptomatic) TB disease. Treatment is long, taking a minimum of six months for drug susceptible TB and 9 months for drug resistant TB, yet standard-of-care treatment monitoring tools are ineffective. Taking advantage of abundant ribosomal RNA in the bacterial cell, we developed the tuberculosis Molecular Bacterial Load Assay (TB-MBLA) test which detects and quantifies live TB bacteria in patient specimens giving a result in 4h. The live TB bacillary load count of patients responding positively to therapy declines over the course of treatment and can be detected as early as 3 days from initiation of treatment. Using TB-MBLA we have shown that a good proportion of TB patients clear sputum bacillary load to zero by week 2 and remain negative throughout 6 months of treatment, increasing hopes of personalised- and shorter- treatment regimens. We applied the same assay to cattle specimens and found over 40% had live TB in their livers and lungs just before the meat was sold off for food in Nigeria. This means control of human TB may not succeed without control of TB in animals. Apart from active TB, we have exploited the idea of human genes that are expressed specifically in response to TB infection to develop a diagnostic that distinguishes latently infected from healthy individuals. Clinical evaluation in Malawi has shown our diagnostic is more sensitive than the standard-of-care interferon gamma release assay (IGRA). We believe our latent TB diagnostic will provide an efficient tool to guide appropriate administration of TB preventive therapy globally.