Research funding for tuberculosis-associated Aspergillus infections granted
28.05.2026In a newly established collaborative North-South project Dr Natalie Nieuwenhuizen (working group Prof Oliver Kurzai) will work with Dr David Koffi (Pasteur Institute Cote d’Ivoire) and Dr Claire Hoving (University of Cape Town) to conduct research on the Immune modulation in tuberculosis-associated Aspergillus infections.
Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) is a devastating complication for tuberculosis (TB) survivors, yet it remains underdiagnosed due to clinical overlap with recurrent TB and the limitations of current diagnostic tools. While structural lung damage provides a niche for Aspergillus colonization, the role of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-induced immune dysregulation in facilitating fungal persistence remains poorly defined. The overarching goal of this project is to characterize the cellular immune landscape of TB-associated Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis (CPA) to improve diagnosis and mechanistic understanding of this potentially fatal disease.
The project is supported by the University of Exeter as CMM International Fund for Global Advancement of Medical Mycology for initially 2 years.
Currently Dr Koffi is staying at the Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology to learn the ARTE assay (Antigen Reactive T cell enrichment assay), which will be implemented in the project in Cote d’Ivoire.
Zurück
