Translational Research

TB Alliance and Partners Form Multidisciplinary Center for Translational TB Drug Research

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded TB Alliance a Center of Excellence in Translational Research (CETR) grant (U19AI142735) for tuberculosis (TB) drug development. New translational research to develop novel anti-TB medicines is being carried out with partners at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and Research Triangle Institute.

  • NIAID’s CETR program was founded to support translational research activities ranging from early discovery-based efforts to late-stage preclinical development or medical countermeasures for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
  • Potentially promising compounds have faced significant challenges in attracting the long-term funding needed to evaluate their potential safety and efficacy in treating people with TB. The estimated $1.3 billion annual funding gap for TB research and development is an obstacle to developing the new tools – including drugs – that are needed to end the global TB pandemic.
  • Find more information on the program here.


Learn more about TB Alliance projects in translational research:

  • TBA-7371, in partnership with the Foundation for Neglected Disease Research and the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute
  • Innovative Medicines Initiative, a European public-private partnership enabling research to combat health threats, including drug-resistant tuberculosis

CETR Research and Publications

Antimycobacterial Rufomycin Analogues from Streptomyces atratus Strain MJM3502

Zhou B, Shetye G, Yu Y, Santarsiero BD, Klein LL, Abad-Zapatero C, Wolf NM, Cheng J, Jin Y, Lee Hanki, Suh J-W, Lee Hyun, Bisson J, McAlpine JB, Chen S-N, Cho S-H, Franzblau SG, Pauli GF (2020).


Structure of the N-terminal domain of ClpC1 in complex with the antituberculosis natural product ecumicin reveals unique binding interactions

Wolf NM, Lee Hyun, Zagal D, Nam J-W, Oh D-C, Lee Hanki, Suh J-W, Pauli GF, Cho S, Abad-Zapatero C. (2020). Structure of ClpC1 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis in complex with the antituberculosis natural product ecumicin reveals unique binding interactions. Acta Crystallographica D76: 458-471. PDB entries of structures deposited (6pbs, 6ucr, 6pba, 6pbq).


Preserved efficacy and reduced toxicity with intermittent linezolid dosing in combination with bedaquiline and pretomanid in a murine TB model

Bigelow KM, Tasneen R, Chang YS, Dooley KE, Nuermberger EL. Preserved efficacy and reduced toxicity with intermittent linezolid dosing in combination with bedaquiline and pretomanid in a murine TB model. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2020 Jul 20;. doi: 10.1128/AAC.01178-20.