Tuberculosis (TB) as result of infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) remains a preeminent global health crisis. TB is the leading cause of death worldwide due to a bacterial pathogen. Current data suggests that there are three million new TB infections annually and more than two million deaths per year from Mtb infection. Co-infection with HIV has resulted in increasing levels of morbidity and mortality due to TB especially in developing countries. The manifestation of the majority of active TB disease cases results from re-activation of latent Mtbinfection acquired years, or decades, previously. Latent Mtb infections comprise the bulk of the morbidity and mortality associated with TB worldwide and represent the most likely source for new infections. The magnitude of the impact of latent infection cannot be underestimated as approximately one third of the world’s population harbors latent Mtb infection.
Much progress has been made toward achieving global control of TB over the past two decades with incidence rates declining globally and in many subregions except in certain African countries. This progress, however, is being threatened by the emergence of both multidrug-resistant TB, or MDR-TB, and extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB. These forms of Mtb are more difficult and costly to diagnose, treat and cure than drug-susceptible Mtb. M/XDR-TB is particularly lethal in people living with HIV.
From a survey of both the targets and compounds associated with modern TB drug development, to anti-infective strategies for the treatment of drug-resistant Mtb strains, to an investigation of the role of bacterial proteins in the formation of the tuberculous granuloma, this symposium seeks to examine different components of this global epidemic.
About the Brother Lucian Blersch Symposium
Organized by the School of Natural Sciences at St. Edward’s University, the event is free and open to the public. This symposium honors Brother Lucian Blersch, CSC, a longtime professor of engineering at St. Edward’s who died in 1986 and in whose name a professorship in the School of Natural Sciences was endowed by a gift from J.B.N. Morris hs ’48, ’52 and his family.
Speakers
III, PhD, is a senior investigator in the Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases as well as chief of the Tuberculosis Research Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland. In addition to his research group in Bethesda that focuses on drug and diagnostic development, he has developed an active clinical research program in South Korea where he has on-going trials with over 800 participants. Barry’s group contributed to the development of PA-824, a new drug now in Phase II clinical trials, and developed SQ109, now in Phase Ib trials. Dr. Barry is a member of several editorial boards and has authored more than 130 research publications on tuberculosis since entering the field. In 2009, he was named by ScienceWatch as the most highly cited researcher working in the field of Tuberculosis. Dr. Barry received his PhD in organic and bioorganic chemistry in 1989 from Cornell University, and spent two years doing postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University before joining NIAID’s Intramural Research Laboratories. In 1998, he was tenured as chief of the Tuberculosis Research Section (TBRS) and relocated his laboratory to the NIH main campus in Maryland.
Khisimuzi Mdluli, PhD, is a senior project leader of biology at the TB Alliance, responsible for evaluating discovery projects for inclusion in the TB Alliance portfolio, and overseeing current drug discovery projects. A native of Swaziland, Dr. Mdluli is a highly regarded expert in the microbiology, molecular biology and biochemistry of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A three-year Visiting Fellowship at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) resulted in a number of seminal publications by Dr. Mdluli in 1998 that describe the mechanism of action and a potential target of isoniazid, a cornerstone drug in the fight against TB. Established in 2000 to address an urgent health need, the TB Alliance has as its mission the discovery and development of improved TB treatments. Today, the organization and its partners manage the most robust portfolio of new TB drug candidates ever assembled.
Eamonn F. Healy, PhD, is the Brother Lucian Blersch Professor of Science and professor of chemistry at St. Edward’s University. His current research focuses on the design of structure-activity probes to elucidate enzymatic activity. The interdisciplinary approach includes molecular modeling for the simulation of inhibitor binding, overexpression of the target proteins and in vitro assays of enzymatic activity and inhibition. Targets include HIV-1 integrase, the c-Kit and src-abl proteins, and the metalloproteinases associated with CXCL16 shedding. Dr. Healy received his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.