Nuggets

SEPTEMBER 2006

CBTBR researchers publish review article on the efficacy of tuberculosis chemotherapy
A major review article entitled “Tuberculosis Chemotherapy: the influence of bacillary stress and damage-response pathways”, co-authored by Dr Digby Warner and Prof Valerie Mizrahi, was published in the June 2006 issue of Clinical Microbiology Reviews. This article provides a critical analysis of the contributions of three major pathways employed by Mycobacterium tuberculosis to subvert the action of anti-TB drugs – genetic drug resistance, intrinsic drug resistance, and phenotypic drug tolerance.

Wits node hosts international exchange student
Lamia Wahba, who recently completed her undergraduate degree at William and Mary College in the USA, spent two months in the Wits node of the CBTBR as an international exchange student. Her visit to the CBTBR was supported through a special program of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) which enables outstanding undergraduate students from universities in the USA to gain international experience by working in the laboratories of International Research Scholars of the HHMI. Lamia is the second such student to visit Valerie Mizrahi’s laboratory through this scheme, the first being Rokhsanna Sadeghi, who spent two months in the CBTBR in 2005. Lamia’s research project was aimed at developing the tools required to evaluate a method for down-regulating gene expression in mycobacteria and was supervised by CBTBR Team Member, Stephanie Dawes.

Awards
Prof Valerie Mizrahi won the Science & Technology category of the Shoprite-Checkers/ SABC2 Woman of the Year Award. Details of this award, which she received at a ceremony held in Cape Town on 27 July 2006, can be found at http://www.sawoman.co.za/pages/79568134/Newsroom/Articles/winners-announced.asp.

Valerie was also awarded the DST Distinguished Woman Scientist Award for 2006, which she received at the DST Women in Science Awards ceremony held in Johannesburg on 4 August 2006. Details of this award can be found at http://www.naci.org.za/

Dr Digby Warner was the joint winner of the Best Oral Presentation Prize in the Molecular and Cell Biology and Evolution category of the Faculty of Health Sciences Research Day, held at Wits University on 13 August 2006. The topic of Digby’s presentation, which described some of his doctoral research, was “Y- family polymerases in mycobacteria: roles in genetic adaptation and long-term survival”. Digby was awarded a prize of R12,500 which will enable him to present his work at an international conference.

At the XXth South African Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Conference held in Pietermaritzburg, 2 - 6 July 2006, Novel Chegou received the SASBMB-Roche Diagnostics best honours student award for 2005 At the conference he gave an oral presentation, Interferon gamma based assays in the diagnosis of pleural TB. Novel was also invited to speak on different aspects of TB diagnosis at Cellestis-Australia open day/seminar. Johannesburg, 15th  August 2006 and at Pro-gen Diagnostics (PTY) LTD open day, Cape Town, 12th July 2006.

XDR-TB – Expert Consultation on Drug Resistant TB
The recent outbreak of XDR-TB in KwaZulu-Natal, has raised concerns about the impact of these extremely resistant strains on the TB epidemic raging in South Africa. XDR-TB is defined as strains that are resistant to all the front-line drugs and to three or more of the six classes of second-line drugs. CBTBR core members, Profs Rob Warren and Paul van Helden, joined other TB experts from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at a meeting (7-8th September) to discuss the global response to TB drug resistance. During this meeting, a seven point XDR-TB Action Plan was compiled.

CBTBR director, Prof Paul van Helden, was invited to a Department of Health crisis meeting (19th  September) to discuss the Government’s response to XDR TB.

A number of national radio and newspapers interviews were given by Profs Paul van Helden, Rob Warren and Tommie Victor to inform the general public about XDR-TB.

Outreach
Grand Challenge project – Community TB Awareness Day
Highly successful TB awareness days were held at two local communities with high incidences of TB; Uitsig, 31st of August and Elsies River, 14th of September. CBTBR core member, Prof Gerhard Walzl and PhD student, Andre Loxton addressed community members to inform and educate them about tuberculosis and HIV and to explain to them what the Grand Challenge project entails. This project is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and involves various different developing countries. At least 150 members from each of the two communities attended the meetings. People were given the opportunity to talk about their own experiences and several who had been affected by either TB or HIV took the stage. All in all there was a great deal of the community support for the research projects that are being conducted by Stellenbosch University. Refreshments were provided and there was a prize draw. After the meeting the community members thanked the researchers from the CBTBR for their hard work in trying to combat TB and trying to make their lives better.

CBTBR Conference attendance
CBTBR was represented at the following international meetings: EDCTP international investigators meeting, MRC Cape Town, July 2006 – Prof. Paul van Helden (invited speaker); Consortium to Respond Effectively against the Aids and Tuberculosis Epidemic (CREATE) Investigator’s meeting, North West Province, 18-19 September 2006 – Dr. Carmen Pheiffer. Biomarkers conference, Prague, 25-29 September – Joel Djoba; ECI conference, Paris, 6 September – Teri Roberts; IAEA workshop, Nairobi, Kenya, June 2006 – Prof Tommie Victor and Annemie Jordaan. CBTBR was represented locally at Livestock Health and Production Group Conference, Stellenbosch, August 2006 – Dr. Nico Gey van Pittius and Prof. Paul van Helden (Invited speaker); XXth South African Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Conference Pietermaritzburg, 2 - 6 July 2006 – Dr. Nico Gey van Pittius, Dr. Madelein Hanekom and Novel Chegou. Novel Chegou was an invited speaker at Cellestis-Australia open day/seminar. Johannesburg, 15th  August 2006 and also at Pro-gen Diagnostics (PTY) LTD open day, Cape Town, 12th July 2006. At the Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Health Sciences, 50th Academic Year Day, Chantal Babb and Ilene du Toit won Bio-Rad awards for the best scientific oral presentation and poster presentation, respectively.

An “Out of Africa” experience
CBTBR core member Dr Carmen Pheiffer was invited to the Consortium to Respond Effectively against the Aids and Tuberculosis Epidemic (CREATE) Investigator’s meeting held at Kwa Maritane Game Lodge in the North West Province, 18-19 September 2006. CREATE is a global research and implementation project targeting tuberculosis control in areas with severe HIV/AIDS epidemics. Currently, CREATE is conducting three large, community level studies evaluating alternative strategies for control of TB in Brazil, South Africa and Zambia. The meeting was held to discuss the preliminary results, challenges and future plans of these CREATE funded projects. Carmen was invited because of her assistance with ZAMSTAR, a collaborative study between South Africa and Zambia, two of the countries most affected by TB.