The recently held Union World Conference on Lung Health in Bali, the University of Oxford introduced groundbreaking research validating a free genomic analysis platform designed to enhance tuberculosis (TB) control efforts.
Developed by EIT Pathogena, this cloud-based tool allows for automated, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) and non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTMs), offering an accessible and equitable approach to drug resistance prediction and outbreak detection.
This is according to the statement issued last Wednesday by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Head of Communications, Alex Metcalfe.
The statement read that with a dataset of 2,663 M.tb samples, the platform demonstrated over 95% accuracy in predicting resistance to critical TB drugs like isoniazid and rifampicin, making it a valuable tool for academics and public health professionals working to address TB drug resistance.
“Our aim with this platform is to simplify WGS adoption in TB care, especially in resource-limited settings,” explains Dr. Philip Fowler, Associate Professor and lead researcher on the project. “Users can upload samples and receive results without needing extensive computational resources,’’ he added.
With TB designated a global health priority by the World Health Organization (WHO), EIT Pathogena’s platform directly supports the need for faster, more accurate TB analysis and resistance detection, particularly for multi-drug-resistant (MDR) TB cases.
Supported by the Ellison Institute of Technology, Oxford, EIT Pathogena plans to broaden its focus beyond TB to track a wide range of pathogens, supporting faster public health responses in the future. The vision is to develop a global ‘always-on’ pathogen monitoring ecosystem and to inform treatment of infectious diseases through innovative point-of-care diagnostics and data-driven precision medicine.
