Discover Brigham - Biomarker Discovery Process to Identify Individuals at High Risk of Developing TB

Demo Presenter:
● Sara Suliman, MPD, PhD, Instructor in Medicine, Inflammation and Immunity, Rheumatology

Tuberculosis (TB) disease remains one of the leading causes of death from an infectious disease globally. TB is caused by infection with the bacteria: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and mostly manifests as a pulmonary disease. One of the most puzzling attributes of TB is that only 5-10% of people infected with Mtb are estimated to progress to active TB disease.

My work has focused on identifying biomarkers that predict risk of developing clinical TB disease following exposure to Mtb. Biomarkers are measurable biological features, such as levels of gene expression, that can statistically predict certain clinical outcomes, and can usually be translated into simple point-of-care tests to inform clinical and public health interventions.

In this Discover Brigham demonstration, I will present a short (5 minutes) interactive video tutorial to showcase the machine learning process of developing blood-based gene expression biomarkers from individuals exposed to Mtb, to predict their risk of developing TB disease. These tests will have a significant application in developing targeted preventative interventions to proactively monitor individuals at high risk of progression to disease and provide them with early treatment in order to reduce transmission in the community.