Addressing the challenge of tuberculosis in the animal-human interface

Zoonotic tuberculosis (TB), caused by M. bovis, is a major economic and human health concern in rural areas of the low- and middle-income countries, where the animal-human interface is intensifying as land use patterns change. Through an international and interdisciplinary approach, we will focus on addressing the world’s most successful pathogens and grand challenges unto themselves—Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis. We will build on the existing international Minnesota-Mbarara collaborative initiative to enable investigations of interspecies transmission of tuberculosis in Uganda, aiming to decrease the systemic risk of the disease in both animal and human populations. Our team combines highly experienced and established scientists who are well versed in epidemiology, genomic and molecular epidemiology, molecular evolution, pathogenesis, and complex systems modeling. This application will target the Mycobacterium TB-complex group of organisms but is expected to have a major global impact on multiple zoonotic pathogens.