In this update, meet a new student research team member who will be helping with data analysis over the coming weeks.
Background
The Help Stop TB project was created to study the sheath of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB), in order to help scientists look for better treatments.
On October 14, the World Health Organization released the most recent global statistics on TB, including the following:
- In 2019, an estimated 10 million people contracted TB.
- 1.4 million people died from TB in 2019.
- TB remains one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide, and the leading cause from a single infectious agent (above HIV/AIDS).
Upcoming paper
One of the previous research team members, Dr. Athina Meletiou, completed a draft of paper about the project's findings before moving to a new institution. The principal investigator, Dr. Anna Croft, and the newest permanent team member, Dr. Marko Hanževački, are reviewing this draft and will make updates if needed. We'll let everyone know once they're done and submit the paper to academic journals to be reviewed for publication.
Welcome, Connor
In last month's update, we mentioned that a new student will be part of the research team for an eight-week rotation, and he joined this month's research call.
Connor McGee is a PhD student in the Biosciences Doctoral Training Programme at the University of Nottingham. For one of his project rotations, he has joined the Croft research team under the supervision of Anna Croft and Christof Jager investigating the structural properties of mycolic acids in the tuberculosis cell wall.
Previously, Connor completed his MSci in Psychology, focusing on mathematical modelling of neural and glial systems. His primary research interest concerns the use of computational methods to study structure-function relationships across a range of biological topics, including neuroscience, cellular biology, and molecular systems. He is also interested in methodology development in both data analysis and mathematical modelling.
Current status of work units
- In progress: 34 batches (3,369 work units )
- Completed: 23,660 batches
74 batches in the last 30 days
Average of 2.67 batches per day
Note: For this particular project, the researchers often need to analyze the batches we send back to them before they can build more work units. This can sometimes lead to an intermittent work unit supply.
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