Grant will help Colorado State investigate tuberculosis drug

Fort Collins, Colo.

-- Scientists can look deeper into why traditional tuberculosis treatments work so slowly and the reason for recurrence in an infected subject thanks to a $1.25 million Bill and Melinda Gates Grant.

The grant, paid to Colorado State University's tuberculosis research program at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, will allow scientists to develop faster and more effective tuberculosis treatments, according to the school.

The grant was awarded to Ian Orme, a professor in the college's Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology. Orme's studies will focus on a closer look at the area of tissue in the lungs where persistent bacterium hide, to see if new drugs can kill the disease before biofilms form to protect the bacterium. Bioforms, a thin layer of material that surround the bacterium, make treatments less effective, the college says.

New treatments for tuberculosis have not been developed in decades, and the bacterium that causes the disease continues to mutate. Extensive laboratory testing must be performed before any new treatment can reach the human trial phase. Tuberculosis infects about 9 million people each year, killing about 2 million.