schedule

Schedule

Thursday, April 2: TB. What is it? How is it combated? What does science have to contribute?

Thursday, April 4: Biology of the Mycobacteria, and why is it so hard to kill them?

Bloom, B. 1992. Back to a Frightening Future. Nature 358:558-59
Jacobs, W.R., Jr. 1996. Science for Combating Tuberculosis. Bull. NY Acad. Med. 73:46-52.
Glickman, M.S. et al. (2001) Microbial pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: dawn of a discipline. Cell. 104, 477-485.
http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1905/koch-bio.html
http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1905/koch-lecture.html

A couple of short homilies to set the scene and define the scientific problem. The Glickman paper is an overview that will set the stage for our whole series of classes. The two websites are the biography of Robert Koch and his Nobel Lecture. He won the Nobel prize in 1905 for his work on many infectious diseases and particularly on TB.

Tuesday, April 9: Genomics of the Mycobacteria

Cole, S.T., et al. 1998. Deciphering the Biology of the M. tuberculosis from the Complete Genome Sequence. Nature 393: 537-544. (http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/M_tuberculosis/)
Young, D. B. A post genomic perspective. Nature Medicine 7:11-13. 2001
Jacobs, W.R. Jr, Mycobacterium tuberculosis: “A Once Genetically Intractable Organism”. From Molecular Genetics of Mycobacteria, G.H. Hatfull and WR. Jacobs, eds. ASM Press, 2000 , p. 1-3 So, now we have the genome sequence, how can we use it? The Jacobs piece is part of an intro to an excellent recent text.

Bring to class your opinion of two pressing scientific questions raised by what you have learned so far and the genetic tools that will be required to investigate them. Be prepared to explain your questions in class, and to begin to consider what tools must be arrayed against them. I don’t want generalizations, “drug resistance” or “pathology” or something equally general. Think hard and be specific….extra applause for not just listing the obvious!