Leprosy mailing
list – February 22nd, 2005
Ccn:
all.
Ref.: BI, MI and research.
From: P
Brennan,
Fort Collins
,
Colorado
,
USA
.
Dear Dr. Noto,
The very interesting discussion on the applications and demise of BI
and MI evaluations raises the broader topic of basic biological
research on leprosy.
The IDEAL (Initiative for Diagnostic and Epidemiological Assays for
Leprosy) Consortium was established following a WHO/TDR sponsored
workshop held in Amsterdam in October
2003 in
which strategies for the development of new diagnostic assays for
infection and the application of molecular epidemiology to leprosy,
were laid out, based on the recognition of Mycobacterium leprae
specific proteins/peptides and genetic variability among isolates of M.
leprae.
The driving
forces behind this effort are the old issues of new tools to address
the incidence of leprosy and to understand transmission.
The
Consortium now consists of the over 30 laboratories still engaged
in fundamental leprosy
research. We met at AHRI,
Addis Ababa
, in late October, 2004, funded by a grant from the Heiser Program/New
York Community Trust, to clearly define our strategy. We now have the
permission of the Board of the NYCT Trust to submit a substantial
grant application to fund an integrated global research programs in
the areas of new diagnostics and molecular epidemiology.
I would like to stress at this point that arising from the M. leprae genome sequence we
now have the capability to develop "field friendly"
pre-clinical diagnostics for leprosy to allow application to
individuals and communities, and to follow individual strains within a
community.
Hopefully the funds will arise to allow us to develop and apply the
necessary tools.
Yours sincerely,
Patrick Brennan
--
Patrick J. Brennan, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
C321 Microbiology Building
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1682, USA
voice 970 491-6700
fax 970 491-1815
Patrick.Brennan@colostate.edu
