# Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV: Composition of Strains and biomarkers of treatment response

> **NIH NIH K01** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $137,117

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This application to the Fogarty International Research Scientist Development Award is to support Dr. Patrick
Cudahy towards an independent clinical research career under mentorship from scientists in the United States
and South Africa. Dr. Cudahy’s research focuses on the epidemiology and outcomes of patients with multidrug-
resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and HIV co-infection. He has worked in the region for the over ten years, and
full-time for the past 30 months. His research site in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa has a high
incidence of MDR-TB and HIV co-infection with high rates of treatment failure and mortality. The proposed
research will require developing well characterized longitudinal cohorts and collaborating with in-country
laboratory scientists to apply clinical diagnostics and innovative genomic techniques. There are three aims of
the proposal: 1) To find markers of tuberculosis treatment response in patients co-infected with HIV and MDR-
TB; 2) To describe the impact of within-host complexity of M. tuberculosis infection on MDR-TB treatment
outcomes in HIV-coinfected individuals; and 3) To describe the within-host spatial diversity of M. tuberculosis
strains within HIV-coinfected individuals dying during treatment for MDR-TB. Dr. Cudahy will enroll participants
at the start of MDR-TB therapy and follow them with serial blood and sputum assays for the first 16 weeks of
treatment. Through these studies, Dr. Cudahy will advance his training in clinical and basic science research in
resource limited settings, acquire analytical and biostatistics skills for clinical and epidemiologic research, and
develop expertise in bioinformatics. He will conduct the project under the guidance of his U.S. mentor, Dr.
Theodore Cohen, Associate Professor of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public
Health, whose research focuses on the emergence and spread of drug-resistant M. tuberculosis. He has
previously mentored two trainees that have received K-series awards and 6 postdoctoral fellows who have
successfully competed for tenure-track faculty positions. Dr. Cudahy’s South African mentor is Dr. Douglas
Wilson, a clinician and accomplished researcher who has over 15 years’ experience in conducting both
longitudinal clinical and epidemiological studies of tuberculosis and HIV in South Africa. Additionally, Dr. David
Engelthaler, Co-Director and Associate Professor of the Pathogen and Microbiome Division at TGen North has
developed novel genotyping techniques for genomic epidemiology and will provide expertise in next-generation
sequencing tools. The results of this research will form the basis for an R01 application to evaluate
interventional strategies based on markers of treatment response and evidence of multiple strain M.
tuberculosis infection. Ultimately, this work will produce a better understanding of MDR-TB and HIV co-
infection and contribute to the design of interventions that can i...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10018675
- **Project number:** 5K01TW011194-02
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Patrick George Tobias Cudahy
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $137,117
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-16 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10018675

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10018675, Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV: Composition of Strains and biomarkers of treatment response (5K01TW011194-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10018675. Licensed CC0.

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