Our Research

About Our Research

Our lab studies Mycobacterium tuberculosis and how host comorbidities diabetes and chronic HIV infection drives host susceptibility to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB remains the leading cause of death in HIV-infected persons, with one in four deaths attributable to TB. While the majority of healthy individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) control infection, co-infection with HIV increases the risk of progressing to TB disease by over 20-fold. Mehra lab leverages the NHP model of TB by infecting rhesus macaques with infectious aerosols of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). We have since refined our model to be able to study LTBI, active TB and HIV-induced reactivation using SIV as a surrogate. My program focuses on immune responses in-vivo, particularly the negative regulation of anti-Mtb immunity in the context of the granuloma, using IDO, PD-1 and LAG3 as examples in the macaque model, both in the setting of active TB infection as well as in the setting of Mtb/HIV co-infection Using this model we have made advances in understanding how Mtb interacts with the primate lungs, within the granulomas, and have provided fundamental insights into the biology of the pathogen as well as the host environment. We have tested many novel vaccine candidates as well as drugs.