Advances in fight against TB, sudden cardiac death

Research projects into two of the biggest killers in worldwide health, tuberculosis and sudden cardiac death, will be the subjects of the University of Leicester Graduate School Doctoral Inaugural Lectures, delivered by two of the winners of this year's PhD prizes in the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Engineering.

The survivalist bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis is one of the main causes of the disease tuberculosis (TB) which kills an estimated 1.5 million people a year and has developed resistance to most antibiotics.  Dr Alessio Bortoluzzi, formerly of the Department of Biochemistry, investigated the structure and function of a protein, RbpA, which is essential for the survival and reproduction of the M. tuberculosis bacterium.  His insights into the role of this protein could lead to further targets in the global fight against TB.

Sudden cardiac death accounts for 100,000 deaths annually in the UK, more than stroke, lung cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined. These deaths could be prevented with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a small and inexpensive device similar to a pacemaker, but the difficulty is in identifying individuals at risk from the condition.  Dr Will Nicolson from the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences will describe "Lifemap", which uses electrical signals at the body's surface to map electrical instability in the heart itself, and can identify individuals most at risk of sudden cardiac death.

The Doctoral Inaugural Lectures are hosted by the Graduate Dean Professor Sarah Hainsworth.  She said: "The Graduate School Doctoral Inaugural Lectures celebrate the achievements of our PhD students. The research that they do is an important contribution to furthering our knowledge and understanding across the diverse areas of research at the University of Leicester. These two lectures will be addressing key issues in the area of health in the fight against TB and in preventing sudden cardiac death and I look forward to hearing about the student's contributions to advances in these areas."

The lectures  take place on Wednesday 10^th December from 5.30pm to 6.45pm, in the Frank and Katherine May Lecture Theatre, Henry Wellcome Building.