TB Research Group

Mycobacterium tuberculosis – the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB) – is the most devastating infectious agent of mortality worldwide: it is carried by one third of all humans and kills nearly two million people annually. In BC and throughout Canada, First Nations and Inuit communities are at an especially high risk, and more than 300 new or relapsed TB cases are reported each year. With the emergence of a strain that is virtually untreatable with current medicines, novel therapeutics are urgently required to target persistent bacilli and to contribute to more effective treatments of TB. This Team brings together individuals from different disciplines who are seeking to establish a foundation to develop strategies to control TB, focusing their studies on the bacterium’s inherent resistance to antibiotics, and its ability to persist in host cells.