FOGARTY HATTP ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING 2023-5th May 2023

05 Aug 2023
forgarty_asm
05 Aug 2023

The 4th Annual Scientific Meeting of the HIV-associated TB Training Program was held on Friday 5th May 2023 in the Neuroscience Auditorium at Groote Schuur Hospital. The meeting was held in a hybrid format with local fellows and members of the local Administrative Committee and supervisors attending in person, and our US collaborators, some of the fellows, supervisors and members of the Training Advisory Committee connecting remotely via Zoom.

 

The program started with an introduction and summary of the HATTP activities to date by the Principal Investigator, Graeme Meintjes. This was followed by presentations from two of our US co-investigators, David Haas from Vanderbilt University Medical Centre on Genomics and bio-informatics platforms at Vanderbilt and Richard Chaisson from Johns Hopkins University on SMART4TB: Opportunities for Early Stage Investigators.

 

Fifteen of our Fellows presented their research projects. Some have recently graduated with doctorates and Masters degrees and presented summaries of their theses. Others presented current work. The newly appointed fellows who are starting their fellowships in 2023 presented their research project plans.

 

HATTP FELLOWS’ PRESENTATIONS:

Simon Mendelsohn

Host Blood Gene Signatures of TB: Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment Response

Avuyonke Balfour

Characterisation of the MAIT cell phenotype in Mtb infection resisters and latent TB infection

Tafadzwa Chimbetete

Characterizing the skin immune microenvironment in normal and diseased SCAR skin across different strata of HIV-related  immunosuppression and immune reconstitution

Phuti Choshi

T cell repertoires associated with rifampicin induced DRESS in HIV-TB co-infected patients.

Siphiwe Baloyi

The quest for TB in the marrow

Ashar Dhana

The evaluation of different strategies to improve the diagnosis of tuberculosis in people living with HIV in resource-limited settings

Raymond Moseki

Neutrophil Degranulation Precedes and Characterizes The Onset Of Paradoxical TB-Associated Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome

Mmamapudi Kubjane

Modelling the cost and impact of South African tuberculosis programme interventions

Linda Boloko

Characterising the pathogenesis of disseminated HIV-associated TB

Rephaim Mpofu

Renal toxicity associated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate or tenofovir alafenamide fumarate: a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic analysis

 

HATTP 2023 fellows

Hannah Gunter

Pharmacogenomics and pharmacokinetics of immune-mediated adverse drug reactions to antituberculosis treatment in the Tuberculosis-HIV endemic setting

Maxine Höft

Investigating the long-term T cell memory responses towards SARS-CoV-2 in people living with HIV.

Astrid Kühn

Monocyte activation, circulating leukocyte-platelet aggregates and  sequestration in patients with HIV-associated tuberculosis: associations with disease severity and mortality.

Katlego Motlhaoleng

Optimizing intensified TB case finding in people living with HIV in PEPFAR-supported districts in South Africa

Zinhle Cindi

Predicting risk of HIV-relevant liver toxicities using polygenic risk scores (PRS)

forgarty_asm

This was the first meeting of the HATTP where the fellows newly awarded fellowships in 2023 were able to meet and interact with other fellows, supervisors, and the committee.

 

Twitter comments following the meeting, from Profs Graeme Meintjes and Jonny Peter

twitter

Kathy Wood

5th May 2023