Project 458962

From 2019-2020, 1.4 million people died from tuberculosis (TB), which is caused by the bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Increasing incidence of drug-resistant TB, as well as the cost, duration, and complexity of existing treatment regimes, make it necessary to develop new and better ways to treat TB. Like humans, M. tuberculosis carries out a process known as respiration, relying on oxygen for survival. This dependency has been successfully targeted by recently approved TB drugs. However, the pathogen exhibits remarkable flexibility in how it uses oxygen, and our limited understanding of this flexibility complicates the development of new drugs. My research will use a combination of advanced biochemistry and atomic-resolution electron microscopy to understand the molecular structures and mechanisms of two key components of the mycobacterial respiratory pathway. The results of this work will guide the design and use of new drugs to treat TB.