January 2014: A group in Toulouse is awarded a prestigious grant to develop a new vaccine against tuberculosis
Our group has just received a funding from the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, as part of a grant from the Grand Challenges TB Vaccine Accelerator, an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This international project involving two american groups, Boston and Atlanta, and three european groups, Salisbury (UK), Groningen (Netherlands) and Toulouse, will explore a very original track to develop a new vaccine against tuberculosis and will be funded to the tune of more than $ 3 million by the foundation. In contrast to classical approaches, it aims at developing a vaccine, which is not based on proteins but on bacterial lipids. See full text
May 2013: Mannodendrimers : anti-inflammatory drugs of tomorrow ?
The discovery of an immune escape strategy used by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the etiological agent of human tuberculosis, has led the team “Immunochemistry and mycobacterial glycoconjugates” from Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale (IPBS, CNRS/Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier) to design a novel type of powerful anti-inflammatory molecules. Published in PNAS on May 13, this work performed in collaboration with the Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination (LCC, CNRS/UPS/INPT) and Laboratoire de Toxicologie Alimentaire (TOXALIM, INRA/UPS/INPT) opens avenues for the development of new therapeutic strategies to combat inflammatory diseases. See full text
April 2013: Bacterial protein-O-mannosylating enzyme is crucial for virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
A posttranslational protein O-mannosylation process resembling that found in fungi and animals has been reported in the major human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and related actinobacteria. However, the role and incidence of this process, which is essential in eukaryotes, have never been explored in Mtb. See full text