Lisa Cranmer
Emory University, GA·Microbiology & Immunology
Each year, about one million children develop tuberculosis (TB), a lung infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). TB is the leading cause of death among children with HIV.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
tuberculosis
Mtb
HIV-exposed infants
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2027
What they work on
- Identify antibody features, especially in the Fc tail region, linked to protection from Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in infants with and without HIV-exposed mothers, testing whether an early IgM-based signature predicts protection.
- Find antibody biomarkers that tell apart children with active TB disease, children with Mtb infection and healthy uninfected children, using a high-throughput test of antibody features on stored samples from Kenya, South Africa, India and an IMPAACT study.
- Test whether children with TB disease carry unique patterns of sugar chains (glycans) on the Fc region of their Mtb-specific antibodies that could serve as diagnostic markers.
More about the research
Diagnosing TB in children is hard because current tests miss many cases. Prevention is also hard because it is unclear which immune responses protect against infection. This project studies antibodies, the blood proteins the body makes against germs, to look for new ways to predict, detect and prevent childhood TB.
Why it matters
Children with or exposed to HIV in places where TB is common are at high risk of dying from TB, and current tests often miss their disease. Antibody features that predict protection or reveal infection could guide new vaccines for mothers and infants and the development of antibody-based treatments. They could also lead to simple point-of-care tests for Mtb infection and TB disease in children.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jerrold Ellner
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Medicine & Clinical Research
Scout promising early-stage TB diagnostics and develop a stepwise evaluation plan for each, supported by an Analytic Laboratory Core that assesses and optimizes new technologies.
Jonathan Herman
University of California-Los Angeles, CA·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Define functional antibody correlates of protection in malaria-exposed PfSPZ vaccinees, and how pre-existing anti-malarial antibodies affect vaccination, using serum from vaccination and controlled human malaria infection trials.
Vishwanath Venketaraman
Western University of Health Sciences, CA·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how glutathione (GSH) depletion in the central nervous system alters immune responses and increases susceptibility to tuberculous meningitis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
The school
Emory University: 70 labs on PI Pages, $1.2B a year on research, 286 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.