Alba Llibre Poster 2023

Dr Alba Llibre Serradell

University of Birmingham, UK

Integration of comprehensive tuberculosis clinical data, functional ex vivo mycobacterial growth inhibition assays and mass cytometry data to understand the reciprocal impact of M.tb and Covid-1

Poster Abstract

The novel SARS-CoV-2 and the ancient Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) represent a collision of two public health emergencies. There is significant potential for SARS-CoV-2 and M.tb infections to mutually modulate each other, resulting in coinfections that co-exacerbate or even protect. To date, there is limited data investigating how SARS-CoV-2 affects the immune status of patients with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) or active TB disease (ATB) or if LTBI and ATB affect the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we integrate comprehensive tuberculosis clinical data, functional ex vivo mycobacterial growth inhibition assays and mass cytometry data to understand the reciprocal impact of M.tb and Covid-19. We identified specific whole blood immune features associated with mycobacterial control, which were present in a subgroup of Covid-19 patients. This knowledge has the potential to contribute to new therapeutic strategies against TB.

Biography

I grew up in Barcelona, where I did her BA in Biotechnology and Biochemistry. I then moved to the UK to course a MSc in Virology at Imperial College London. I then had the opportunity to pursue a PhD in Human Immunology, funded by Obra Social la Caixa, at the University of Oxford, where I investigated the role of Lectin-Like Transcript 1 (LLT1) in germinal centres. I continued studying host immune responses in the context of infectious disease at the Insitut Pasteur in Paris. During this post-doctoral stage, funded by Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, I focused on understanding functional immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. I also implemented a retrospective clinical study to validate a newly developed point of care HCV viral detection kit (in collaboration with Genedrive, UK).

I joined the University of Birmingham in 2020 as a Marie Skolodowska-Curie Individual Fellow. Here, I investigate the host immune and metabolic responses in the context of tuberculosis disease, as well as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and SARS-CoV2 coinfection.