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PhD/MPhil • aWe are seeking community members with experience living with or caring for someone with an infectious disease, immune-related disorder or illness where immunotherapy plays an important role, such as cancer.
While Tuberculosis (TB) is curable, there remains a challenge to find individuals who need treatment. TB exists on a spectrum from active disease to latent asymptomatic infection. Active TB can cause lung disease that is clinically similar to many other bacterial, viral and fungal pathogens. We require a blood-based test that can give additional information regarding the presence of TB, the severity of the TB disease and how the TB responds to therapy.
TB screening is a common practice in Australia, looking for individuals with both active and latent TB. Exposure has often occurred many months or years prior, often in countries outside Australia. The person may feel healthy but require screening for employment or immigration purposes. We require a tool that can say whether a person has latent TB, is likely to get active TB and if medication is working to treat latent TB.
This collaboration aims to understand the interplay between the human immune system and the mycobacteria. A better understanding of why the human host fluctuates between keeping the mycobacteria under control and developing illness can lead to better biomarkers for TB.
The urgent need for improved diagnostics for TB has been recognised by the World Health Organisation and the FIND organisation. Target Product Profiles for desirable TB tests have been developed, specifying desirable characteristics of the tests. However, community awareness of the gaps in TB diagnostics is limited. Community support is required for active engagement in research studies of new TB diagnostics. Trust in diagnostic processes is important for trust in the uptake of the diagnostics after they are developed.
The community partner will:
As the project progresses, interim results will be discussed among the partners prior to publication in research journals, and information will be shared with relevant community partners.
Regarding time commitment, the team members will meet monthly online (1 hour) to discuss progress and meet face-to-face six-monthly (2 hours) at the Doherty Institute. The collaboration is focused on grant writing and protocol development for the first half of 2026.
Melinda Suchard and Gail Cross’s research is at the conceptualisation stage for grant-writing in 2026. We have a few small projects that fit together and will be submitted as part of one larger project called I2C2. The smaller projects are: Some current and upcoming projects include:
Principal investigator Melinda Suchard:
Principal investigator Gail Cross:
These projects will involve samples (blood, possibly urine or other fluids) taken from human patients and volunteers. There will be a cell-culture component to the work.
