Tuberculosis - pathogenesis and immunity
Tuberculosis causes more deaths in the world annually than any other single infectious pathogen. The causative bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has unique metabolic and physiological adaptive strategies which enable it to survive for prolonged periods intracellularly within host macrophages. A third of the world’s population is thought to be harbouring such bacteria in a clinically latent state. The chronicity of the infection sets the stage for prolonged, dynamic interactions between the bacterium and the cell-mediated immune system of the human host.

The research in this laboratory is focused on the immunology of tuberculosis. We are interested in interactions between mycobacteria and host cellular immunity in active, latent and chronic infections, and we wish to understand how different immune responses contribute to pathogenesis and protection. Our studies on human subjects with a wide range of memory responses to various mycobacterium antigens are focused on building up immunological profiles of susceptible and resistant hosts. We are also exploring, via murine models, how exposure to environmental mycobacteria influences the immune protection conferred by the tuberculosis vaccine BCG. Regulatory T cells in latent and active tuberculosis, bacterial pathogenesis in latent mycobacterium infection, as well as novel tuberculosis vaccine approaches are also studied in this lab.

We have collaborative links with local tuberculosis clinicians and are involved in the infectious disease research group within the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) programme.