Partner Institutions
FUNDACIÓ INSTITUT D'INVESTIGACIÓ EN CIÈNCIES DE LA SALUT GERMANS TRIAS I PUJOL
The Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) is a public research centre in the Autonomous region of Catalonia in Northern Spain dedicated to increasing scientific knowledge and transferring it to improve the care and lives of patients. IGTP activities will be carried out by the Experimental Tuberculosis Unit. UTE’s expertise is:
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the development and evaluation of new prophylactic and therapeutic strategies against TB (in clinical trials and in experimental animal models) including HDT: analysis of the clinical outcomes, immune responses, effect on the bacillary load on histopathology and immune response;
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the study of biomarkers in samples obtained in tuberculosis clinical studies and trials involving TB risk groups as those suffering drug-resistant TB and co-infection with HIV;
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the development and evaluation of new tools to improve diagnosis, management and quality of life of patients affected by TB in the clinical setting;
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knowledge and technology transfer, training of personnel and capacity building, with well-established long-term collaborations involving countries of eastern Europe (including a site for clinical trials);
The continuous development of new experimental models (in vivo, in silico) in order to mimic better the human tuberculosis and its evolution, including mathematical approaches.
Key personnel involved in SMA-TB project:
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Cristina Vilaplana (PI and coordinator)
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Pere-Joan Cardona
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Maria-Rosa Sarrias
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Vanessa Llobet
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Lilibeth Arias
WITS HEALTH CONSORTIUM
The Wits Health Consortium (Pty) Limited (WHC) is a non-profit organisation which started in 1998. Perinatal HIV Research Unit (PHRU) is a division of the WHC. PHRU performs high quality clinical research into aspects of the HIV and TB epidemics that could mitigate the impact of these pathogens on humanity. PHRU’s Soweto and Matlosana sites have recruited to multiple studies of novel TB agents – both drug sensitive and drug resistant. The sites have experience in recruiting patients with TB, consenting adults and children, and following up large cohorts of TB patients successfully.
Role in SMA-TB project:
WHC will be involved in WP1, WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP6. They will lead WP1 in South Africa and provide two sites where TB patients will be randomised.
Key personnel involved in SMA-TB project:
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Neil Martinson (PI)
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Ebrahim Variava
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Limakatso Lebina
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Tumelo Moloantoa
NATIONAL CENTER FOR TUBERCULOSIS AND LUNG DISEASES JSC
NCTLD was founded in 2001 after reorganization, based on the Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung diseases, the city TB Hospital, and the Georgian Railway TB-Stationary. NCTLD historically has been recognized as a Center of excellence for specialized TB services and consists from several departments. Services provided include diagnosis and treatment of all forms of Tuberculosis, diagnosis and treatment of other pulmonary pathologies and surgery for TB patients. NCTLD also holds a clinical committee to support M/XDR-TB case management throughout the country.
Role in SMA-TB project:
NCTLD will be one of the Clinical sites for the WP1 “Randomized Pilot Study to estimate the potential efficacy and safety of a repurposed drug, Aspirin, for use as adjunct therapy added to, and compared with, the standard WHO recommended TB regimen”. NCTLD will be involved also in WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP6.
Key personnel involved in SMA-TB project:
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Sergo Vashakidze (PI)
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Nestani Tukvadze
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE
The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) is the largest fundamental research agency in Europe. The Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology (IPBS) is a joint unit between the CNRS and the University of Toulouse, which benefits from a highly collaborative and innovative scientific environment with access to state-of-the-art technological facilities in-house and on the Toulouse University scientific campus.
The main focus of the Nigou lab, Immunomodulation by Mycobacterial Lipids & Glycoconjugates, is to decipher the molecular cross-talk that establishes between M. tuberculosis and host immune cells during infection. Besides providing new knowledge with regards to host-pathogen interaction, it aims at translating these fundamental data into potential new therapeutic or preventive strategies/tools.
Role in SMA-TB project:
As experts of the study of host-pathogen interactions, CNRS will be mainly involved in WP2, of which will be the WorkPackage leader, basically studying pathogen factors and the cross-talk between Mtb and the host immune cells. It will also be involved in WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP6.
Key personnel involved in SMA-TB project:
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Jérôme Nigou (PI)
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Emilie Layre
ACADEMISCH ZIEKENHUIS LEIDEN
LUMC is a university medical center for research, education and patient care with a high quality profile and a strong scientific orientation. The LUMC Infectious Diseases (LUMC-ID) group has established an internationally well recognized and competitive research program in the field of human immunology, cell biology and immunogenetics of mycobacterial infectious diseases. The mission of LUMC-ID is to dissect immunological and host-genetic mechanisms of protective and pathologic immunity to mycobacterial infections and related infectious diseases, to design more effective intervention strategies.
Role in SMA-TB project:
LUMC’s role is mainly in WP2, where it will perform the transcriptional profiling of human samples from the planned clinical studies in SMA-TB, in order to capture early signatures of the response to new TB treatments, in both DS and DR TB.
Key personnel involved in SMA-TB project:
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Tom H.M. Ottenhoff (PI)
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Mariëlle C. Haks
OSLO UNIVERSITETSSYKEHUS
Oslo Universitetssykehus HF (OUS) (Oslo University Hospital, OUH) is a highly specialized hospital in charge of national, regional and local hospital assignments with regional responsibilities for MDR/XDR-TB. The Chronic Infections Research Group (CIRG) at Department of Infectious Diseases, OUS, has been the sponsor for several phase I/II clinical trials, performs prospective bio-banking of human TB samples with corresponding registration of clinical data in a TB register. CIRG focuses on translational research on immune mechanisms, diagnostics and host-directed therapy and holds a state-of-the-art immunological laboratory strategically integrated within the clinical ward with P3/P4 laboratory, including facilities for cell culture and analysis (flow cytometry and sorter, ELISA, BioRad multiplex and ELISPOT readers).
Role in SMA-TB project:
Prof. Dyrhol-Riise will in collaboration with the other partners will provide data from on-going cohorts within her work in WP2 and WP3, and facilitate exploratory studies by flow cytometry (WP2) of material from CT (WP1). Prof. Dyrhol-Riise will be the head of the Trial Steering Committee (TSC) for the RCT (WP1). OUS will also be involved in WP4, WP5 and WP6.
Key personnel involved in SMA-TB project:
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Anne Margarita Dyrhol-Riise (PI)
ANAXOMICS BIOTECH S.L.
Anaxomics is a company specialized in bioinformatics and systems biology providing services for drug discovery, pre-clinical and clinical development. Anaxomics proprietary technology based on systems biology builds mathematical models applying machine learning methods to infer clinical and protein level knowledge. The analysis of these models provides mechanistic insight into the understanding of the complexity of biological processes and innovative solutions to take our understanding of drugs and diseases to a new level.
Role in SMA-TB project:
The activities of ANAXOMICS within the project are concentrated in WP3 and will deal with:
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Standard statistical analysis of clinical trial principal outcome
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Integration of diverse molecular data sets using systems biology approaches and identification of potential biomarkers;
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Application of data science approaches to identify patterns within the data, molecular and non-molecular, for stratification purposes.
ANAXOMICS will also actively participate in SMA-TB exploitation activities, taking the lead of the task 4.3 Exploitation. They will be also involved in WP5 and WP6.
Key personnel involved in SMA-TB project:
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Judith Farrés (PI)
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José Manuel Mas
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Teresa Sardón
TES2A EUROPE CONSULTING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT S.L.
TES2A Europe is a Spanish SME, founded in 2010 and focused on consulting and business development, based on feasible results of research and development activities carried out by individual companies or international consortia. TES2A Europe has a wide range of range of expertise and extensive experience in giving support in European project co-coordination and partnering.
Role in SMA-TB project:
The activities of ANAXOMICS within the project are concentrated in WP3 and will deal with:
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Standard statistical analysis of clinical trial principal outcome
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Integration of diverse molecular data sets using systems biology approaches and identification of potential biomarkers;
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Application of data science approaches to identify patterns within the data, molecular and non-molecular, for stratification purposes.
ANAXOMICS will also actively participate in SMA-TB exploitation activities, taking the lead of the task 4.3 Exploitation. They will be also involved in WP5 and WP6.
Key personnel involved in SMA-TB project:
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Judith Farrés (PI)
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José Manuel Mas
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Teresa Sardón
LIONEX GMBH
LIONEX Diagnostics & Therapeutics GmbH” (LIO). LIO is a German biotech company with exceptional commitment to the problems of cancer and tropical diseases such as TB and HIV. LIO has produced large quantities of endotoxin free, antigens of M. tuberculosis from E. coli. Also LIO has developed a novel test for diagnosing Latent TB Infection (LTBI)/TB.