Professor Cook says it had long been a puzzle
how mycobacteria generate energy when in their oxygen - starved dormant states.
This motivated the lab of John McKinney at EPFL, in collaboration with the lab of Uwe Sauer at ETH Zürich, to look at
how mycobacteria activate or inactivate the genes of these enzymes.
The researchers envision future research where they would try to find out
how the mycobacteria manage to establish and sustain the vesicle hideouts as they evade discovery.
To learn
how Mycobacterium tuberculosis mounts a defense against a drug, Baliga is first looking within the bacterium, identifying the genes, proteins and other molecules that interact as the microbe infects a host.
Specifically, the authors call for systems biology approaches (using large data sets and modeling to understand complex biological systems) to fill critical knowledge gaps in understanding
how Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection causes disease.
Not exact matches
The goal is to find new ways to tackle the disease, which requires a thorough understanding of
how the bacterium, known as
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, behaves once it takes hold of the macrophages in our lungs.
Research Focus: My research project focuses on the T cell response of
mycobacterium tuberculosis to further understand
how the current BCG vaccine can be improved.
Along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations around the world, the ASBMB is observing Tuberculosis Day 2018 by sharing research news from scientists expanding our understanding of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis and a variety of perspectives on
how the pathogen continues to affect our world.