Cirillo Lab

Research focus

NIH R01 · 2025

Ultrasensitive detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

PROJECT SUMMARY Tuberculosis (TB) afflicts nearly one-third of the world’s population, but progress in development of interventions is hamstrung by the slow growth rate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent, and the need to evaluate viability by colony forming units (cfu). We plan to overcome this roadblock through development and validation of imaging technologies that can be broadly applied to all TB research. Our studies have produced new imaging technologies for TB, with the most sensitive having a threshold of ~103 cfu during pulmonary infection. Imaging allows therapeutic evaluation within hours, rather than weeks, both in vitro and in animals, but improved…

From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.