Research group Global health and infectious diseases

It is incredibly important, for instance for vaccine development, to understand why some people, even when heavily exposed to an infectious tuberculosis (TB) patient, do not get infected, while others progress to disease, sometimes with severe damaging inflammation (‘immunopathology’).

We use an integrated multi-omics approach and functional immunology in patients and TB contacts, and in-vitro studies to find correlates of protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and disease, understand immunopathology, and identify effective immunotherapy.

Tuberculosis (TB) meningitis is the most severe manifestation of TB, killing many patients or leaving them disabled. Its diagnosis is difficult, and its treatment is complicated by life-threatening inflammation. Linking well-characterized large patient cohorts and state-of-the art laboratory sciences, we examine what biological mechanisms underly its poor outcome, and how host-directed therapy can improve outcome. In these same cohorts, we examine ways to improve diagnosis and clinical management, also in the context of concurrent HIV infection.

Diabetes is associated with increased tuberculosis (TB) risk, more drug resistance, and worse TB outcomes. First, to understand why, we use data and samples from an international consortium (‘TANDEM’) we led; sequencing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from diabetic and non-diabetic patients; and experimental macrophage infection models. Second, in Uganda and Tanzania we lead the first phase 3 randomized trial of TB preventive therapy among people with diabetes.

Indonesia has the 2nd highest Tuberculosis (TB) burden globally, with close to a million estimated cases yearly. We address gaps in TB diagnosis and treatment, access and retention to health services, drug-resistance management and other problems with Indonesian and other international colleagues. We perform large-scale studies in West-Java (50 million people) to generate evidence for programmatic uptake of new diagnostic tools to increase (early) TB detection, and targeted next generation sequencing for rapid drug resistance testing.

These projects integrate laboratory, clinical, public health, health-economic and other sciences, and strongly engage with regional and national health authorities and other stakeholders.

See the publication list on Web of Science.