Investigating the role of lung tissue resident memory T-cell in the immunopathology of human tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of death from infectious disease globally and an improved vaccine is desperately needed. The most recent attempt to develop a vaccine failed because we still do not understand the signs of immunity for TB. This means that vaccine development remains a shot in the dark. TB is primarily a disease of the lung, and yet we have only ever studied the blood for signs of immunity. There is a growing understanding that blood and tissue are not the same; and that many immune cells do not recirculate once they are in the tissue.

We will study TB immunity in human lung tissue. This will revolutionise our understanding of human TB immunology.

Our approach represents the best chance of discovering the signs of immunity and this could result in the development of an improved TB vaccine.