The following is a brief description of studies on tuberculosis:

Dr. Philip C. Hopewell is the Principal Investigator of an NIH-funded grant, "Population Based Molecular Epidemiology of Tuberculosis." Using molecular epidemiology combined with recent advances in molecular biology, genomics, and computational biology, this study examines interrelationships between clinical and epidemiological features of tuberculosis and human host and microbial genetic events in a setting wherein findings can be translated quickly to tuberculosis control efforts.

Dr. Hopewell is co-Principal Investigator of the Tuberculosis Research Unit, an international collaboration of investigators studying new drugs for tuberculosis and vaccine candidates.

He is the Principal Investigator of the Francis J. Curry National Tuberculosis Center, one of three Model Tuberculosis Centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to educate and train clinicians about tuberculosis.

Dr.Payam Nahid is the UCSF Principal Investigator of the Tuberculosis Trials Consortium, an international multicenter clinical trials consortium (28 sites) funded by the CDC. Ongoing studies as part of this trials network include:

• A randomized Phase III trial comparing rifapentine and isoniazid for the treatment of latent tuberculosis infection in 7,700 patients.
• A randomized, double-blind, Phase II clinical trial assessing impact on 2-month sputum conversion rate of substitution of moxifloxacin for isoniazid in standard intensive phase TB treatment regimen
• An evaluation of M. tuberculosis isolates attained from CDC trials, 1) to determine the lineage of the strains and, 2) to determine whether response to treatment is associated with lineage of the strain and/or the ethnic background of the host.

Dr. Nahid is also:

• Principal Investigator of an NIH-funded project “Interplay of strain and ethnicity in the immune response to M. tuberculosis”. This is a prospective study to determine whether there exist ethnic-specific differences in the immune response to infection from various lineages of M. tuberculosis.
• Chair of the TBTC Biomarkers and Diagnostics Working Group which is currently working towards the development of a tuberculosis-specific specimen bank to assist in biomarker discovery and evaluation.