Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease of the lungs caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis which is responsible for 1.5 million deaths annually.
Treatment for TB requires four antibiotics for a minimum of six months- this long treatment regimen is associated with poor patient compliance and the emergence of drug resistance. Research in the Waddell Group at Brighton and Sussex Medical School has focused on exploiting the natural ability of mycobacteria to clump together, a process known as cording, to form complex biofilm macrostructures. This biofilm growth state confers bacterial tolerance to antimicrobials, and when this biofilm is broken down, they still maintain this tolerance. Here, mycobacteria act as building blocks to construct these biofilms that ultimately allow them to survive antimicrobial exposure.