Understanding the metabolic mediators of antibiotic resistance in tuberculosis

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to human health globally and the looming threat of a post-antibiotic era will have catastrophic effects on human health. TB is once again the number one infectious killer world-wide, responsible for 1.4 million deaths in 2018 and also accounts for 25% of all deaths associated with antibiotic resistance. The success rate for treating multi-drug resistant TB averages at a dismal 54% globally and is even worse for patients with extensively drug-resistant TB1. To have any chance of meeting the WHO goal of ending TB by 2035 we need to develop novel therapies that shorten treatment time and include strategies which target drug-tolerant bacilli and multi-drug resistant Mtb. The increasing burden of antibiotic resistant strains of the causative agent of TB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is destabilising TB control measures. Whilst metabolic pathways are now a proven therapeutic target for tuberculosis, the relationship between metabolism and antibiotic resistance remains poorly understood for Mtb. This project aims to understand the cross talk between metabolism and antibiotic resistance in order to develop therapeutics against antibiotic-resistant strains of Mtb.