Responsable d'Unité

Tuberculosis Research

The Tuberculosis Research Unit joint the Department of Medical Parasitology and Infection Biology at Swiss TPH in March 2010. Part of our group members moved from the MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in London, and our Unit keeps a strong collaborative link with NIMR. Our main research topics are the cause and consequence of genetic diversity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacterium which causes human tuberculosis (TB). Our research consists of two complementary arms: One macro-evolutionary arm focuses on the global diversity of Mtb, the evolutionary forces that drive this diversity, and the phenotypic consequences of this diversity. The second, micro-evolutionary arm studies the evolution and ecology of drug resistance in Mtb.

 

The Tuberculosis Research Unit is also key partner in TB research at the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania.

Selected publications

 

Comas I, Chakravartti Js Small PM, Galagan J, Niemann S, Kremer K, Ernst JD, and Gagneux, S (2010). Human T cell epitopes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are evolutionarily hyperconserved. Nature Genetics 42, 498-503 PM:20495566

Comas, I and Gagneux, S (2009). The past and future of tuberculosis research. PLoS Pathogens 5, e1000600 PM:19855821

Hershberg R, Lipatov M, Small PM, Sheffer H, Niemann S, Homolka S, Roach JC, Kremer K, Petrov DA, Feldman MW, and Gagneux, S (2008). High functional diversity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis driven by genetic drift and human demography. PLoS Biology 6, 2658-2671 PM:19090620

Gagneux S, Davis C, Small PM, Van T, Schoolnik G, and Bohannan B (2006). The competitive cost of antibiotic resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Science 312, 1944-6 PM:16809538

Gagneux S, DeRiemer K, Van T, Kato-Maeda M, de Jong B, Narayanan S, Nicol M, Niemann S, Gutierrez C, Kremer K, Hilty M, Hopewell PC, and Small PM (2006). Variable host-pathogen compatibility in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103, 2869-73 PM:16477032