Welcome to the Working Group on New TB Drugs Blog
This Week in TB R&D – 24 August 2010
Last week, a paper was published in Nature by Matthew Berry, Christine Graham et al. which received a fair amount of notice. The authors presented data identifying a probable TB gene signature in people infected with TB.
Initially the investigators examined genome-wide transcriptional profiles generated from RNA extracted from whole blood, purified neutrophils, monocytes, and [...]
Genetic signature may lead to better TB diagnosis
LONDON (Reuters) — Scientists have found a “genetic signature” in the blood of patients with active tuberculosis (TB) and believe their discovery could help develop better diagnostic tests for the disease, as well as better treatments.
This Week in TB R&D – 13 July 2010
Last week we highlighted the Xpert® MTB/RIF assay for diagnostic testing. This week, we will briefly describe the GenoType® MTBDRplus assay. The GenoType® MTBDRplus assay uses PCR to amplify biotin-labeled amplicons (single-stranded DNA sequences) of M. tb from sputum.
This week in TB R&D – 7 July 2010
In our latest ‘Sanatorium Files’ post ‘Diagnosis Dilemma’, we commented on the current advances in TB diagnostics. We’re following up on this theme for the next couple of posts to share the scientific data supporting some of the most promising of these new diagnostic tools.Â
This year, two reports were published in the Journal of Clinical [...]
The Week in TB R&D – 27 April 2010
In a post a few weeks ago, we highlighted HeroRats, African-pouch rats, and their use for TB diagnoses. As described in that article, these rats are trained to distinguish positive TB samples verses negative TB samples presumably due to the release of volatile organic compounds (VOC) produced by M. tb.  Not surprisingly, review of the [...]
This Week in TB R&D – 30 March 2010
The use of animal models for drug discovery is indisputable. However, the use of animal models as viable diagnostic tools is still relatively novel, especially for TB detection.
