Unit | Tuberculosis Research

- Medical Parasitology and Infection Biology
The TB Research Unit conducts fundamental and translational research, focusing on the biology, immunology and genomic epidemiology of TB. The unit comprises two research groups that interact on a regular basis: The TB Ecology and Evolution Group explores the nature, cause and consequence of the genetic diversity in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, particularly in the context of antibiotic resistance. This group combines experimental work in the laboratory and epidemiological investigation in the field with various population- and functional genomics approaches. The TB Immunology Group conducts in-depth clinical immunological studies to enhance our understanding of the host-pathogen interaction in TB, and for the development of novel diagnostics and host-directed interventions.
Partnerships
An important part of this work relies on our long-term partnerships with collaborators in TB-endemic countries. These include the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Ghana, and the National Centre for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease in Georgia.

Sébastien Gagneux, Associate Professor, PhD
Head of Unit
+41612848369
sebastien.gagneux@swisstph.ch
Latest Publications
All PublicationsAmelio P et al. HIV infection functionally impairs Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses. J Virol. 2019;93(5):e01728-18. DOI: 10.1128/JVI.01728-18
Asante-Poku A et al. TB-diabetes co-morbidity in Ghana: the importance of Mycobacterium africanum infection. PLoS One. 2019;14(2):e0211822. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211822
Borrell S et al. Reference set of Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical strains: a tool for research and product development. PLoS One. 2019;14(3):e0214088. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214088
Castro R.A.D et al. The genetic background modulates the evolution of fluoroquinolone-resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mol Biol Evol. 2019(in press). DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msz214
Chiner-Oms A et al. Genome-wide mutational biases fuel transcriptional diversity in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Nat Commun. 2019;10(1):3994. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11948-6
Collaborations
- Case Western Reserve University
- Forschungszentrum Borstel
- The Foundation for Medical Research
- Fudan University
- Ifakara Health Institute
- Institute for Systems Biology
- Makerere University
- MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR)
- New York University School of Medicine (NYU)
- Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR)
- University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)