Tuberculosis ranks alongside HIV/AIDS as a leading cause of death worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.5 million people died from TB in 2014. The challenges in tackling the disease include that people are tested too late and that the turnaround for most tests is long. To remedy this,the WHO’s Stop TB Department identifies research and development of novel diagnostics as a research priority. The Armauer Hansen Research Institute in collaboration with other international collaborators has been working in developing a point-of-care rapid diagnostic test for TB for more than a decade. A postdoctoral researcher, Dr Adane Mihret together with Prof. Gerhard Walzl and Dr Chegou Novel from Stellenbosch University, South Africa invented and patented a biosignature(Patent Number: WO 2015128830 A1), which detectschanges in the levels of small proteins in the blood of a patient due to TB. A biosignature consists of a combination of chemicals and indicates a disease state. To read more please click here.
