Center Assistant Professor Initiates Project to Evaluate a New Molecular Diagnostic for Tuberculosis (TB)

Dr. Kayvan Zainabadi is initiating a project supported by  RePORT (Regional Prospective Observational Research in Tuberculosis) International/NIAID and administered though CRDF.  Dr. Zainabadi is the principle investigator and is joined by another Center Associate Professor, Dr. Myung Hee Lee, as a co-investigator. The title of the project is “Evaluating the Clinical Utility of a Novel RNA-Based Assay for Predicting TB Treatment Outcomes and Diagnosing Paucibacillary TB.” Drs. Zainabadi and Lee will determine efficacy of their newly developed molecular assay for predicting TB treatment outcomes and diagnosing pediatric TB in India and Uganda. This is made possible through a new collaboration the investigators have established between Weill Cornell Medicine, RePORT India and RePORT Uganda. As part of the project, Dr. Zainabadi will be spending time in both Pune, India and Kampala, Uganda to train local scientists and  build local research capacity.  

A report published in Scientific Reports detailing the preliminary development of the assay which includes other Center faculty can be found here. 

Picture: Figure 1 from the article “An optimized method for purifying, detecting and quantifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis RNA from sputum for monitoring treatment response in TB patients” detailing the RNA purification process.  The article is linked in the text.  

Article by Flavia Scott.