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Message from the Director:

With over 10 million new TB cases, and 1.6 million deaths, TB is the leading infectious killer of humanity. In Canada, the TB rate among the Inuit is about 283 times higher than that of the Canadian-born non-Indigenous. Thankfully, the world has committed to end the TB epidemic by 2030, and the Canadian government has pledged to end the TB epidemic in the Inuit Nunangat by 2030. The McGill International TB Centre is a world leader in the interdisciplinary study of TB. This Centre brings together more than 20 investigators with expertise in biomedical, clinical, epidemiologic and social aspects of TB. We work to better understand TB pathogenesis and host resistance, and also develop and evaluate new diagnostics, vaccines and treatment regimens for the control of TB. By means of quality training, technical assistance, capacity building, and policy-relevant research, our Centre aims to make a positive contribution to ending the TB epidemic nationally as well as globally.

Madhukar Pai,

December 3rd, 2018

McGill International TB Center is now a PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center for Tuberculosis Research

TB-oriented and other courses at the McGill Summer Institute in Infectious Diseases and Global Health

View website

 Recent Media Appearances

• Madhukar Pai at the Climbing Ladders event by TEDxMcGill 
• Percée canadienne aux répercussions mondiales dans le traitement contre la tuberculose
• Tuberculosis fight to get $13B USD a year
• Madhukar Pai at the UN General Assembly: High-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis - Multi-stakeholder Panel 2
• Fight to End TB - SDG Media Zone at the 73rd session of United Nations General Assembly
• New study uncovers vast variation and significant deficits in tuberculosis care in urban India
• Backstory Podcast: Dr. Madhukar Pai discusses the UN High Level Meeting to End TB
• ‘Latent’ Tuberculosis? It’s Not That Common, Experts Find
• ​Click here for more

Congratulations to Dick Menzies:

THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE: Watch video of Dr. Menzies talking about his studies

- Four Months of Rifampin or Nine Months of Isoniazid for Latent Tuberculosis in Adults. Menzies D et al.N Engl J Med.August 2, 2018;379:440-453 Read article

- Safety and Side Effects of Rifampin versus Isoniazid in Children. Diallo T et al.N Engl J Med.August 2, 2018; 379:454-463 Read article

Read article featured in the Montreal Gazette

Read about the studies - MUHC Newsroom

- Treatment correlates of successful outcomes inpulmonary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: an individual patient data meta-analysis. Ahmad N et al.The Lancet. September 8, 2018;392(10150):821-834 Read article

Read about this study in the McGill Reporter

Maziar Divangahi and Nargis KhanBeyond Killing Tuberculosis

Historically, our view of host defense against infection was that we must eliminate pathogens to eradicate disease. However, this perspective has recently been challenged as scientists have taken a lesson from plant biologists about an ancient strategy involving the ability to “tolerate” rather than “resist” infection to maintain health. This concept, referred to as “disease tolerance”, provides an opportunity to develop new strategies that mitigate the consequences of infection. Read more

Mitochondrial cyclophilin D regulates T cell metabolic responses and disease tolerance to tuberculosis - Science Immunology

Eva Kaufman, August winner of the Relève étoile Jacques-Genest award and winner of an award from the German Society for Immunology 

Eva Kaufmann, a postdoctoral fellow in Medicine at McGill University, is the award winner of the Relève étoile Jacques-Genest award of the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS).Her Award-winning publication: BCG Educates Hematopoietic Stem Cells to Generate Protective Innate Immunity against Tuberculosisis published in Cell. Congratulations Eva! More details on Relève étoile Jacques-Genest and on the German Society for Immunology award

Great job at knowledge synthesis by TB Centre researchers:

Nature Review Primer on TB.

Just got designated as a ‘Highly cited paper’ by the Web of Science, meaning it is among the top 1% of papers of similar age in the field of clinical medicine! Read it here: http://go.nature.com/2Da2w2q 

The top-cited systematic reviews/meta-analyses in tuberculosis research:

McGill authors topped the rankings as first and corresponding authors in systematic reviews and meta-analyses in TB research.

​The 100 top-cited tuberculosis research studies: 

​According to a study, McGill researchers account for 6% of the world's best cited TB papers which is very high ranking! The 100 top-cited tuberculosis research https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/rccm.201707-1489PPstudies (International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease) Download

Positions in Tuberculosis Research Available:

• Postdoctoral Fellowship with Dr. Madhukar Pai

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Selected Recent TB Articles/Publications

• Moving toward tuberculosis elimination: critical issues for issues research is diagnostics and therapeutics for tuberculosis infection. Am J Respir Crit Care Med

• Diagnosing active tuberculosis in people living with HIV: an ongoing challenge. Curr Opin HIV AIDS

• The Mycobacterial Cell Envelope: A Relict From the Past or the Result of Recent Evolution? Front Microbiol

• Knowledge about tuberculosis and infection prevention behavior: A nine city longitudinal study from India. PLoS One

• Causal inference with multiple concurrent medications: A comparison of methods and an application in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Stat Methods Med Res

• Predicting tuberculosis relapse in patients treated with the standard 6-month regimen: an individual patient data meta-analysis. Thorax

• Are tolerance and training required to end TB? Nature Reviews Immunology

• Variations in the quality of tuberculosis care in urban India: A cross-sectional, standardized patient study in two cities. PLOS Medicine

• Treatment correlates of successful outcomes in pulmonary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: an individual patient data meta-analysis The Lancet 

• Revisiting the timetable of tuberculosis BMJ

• Xpert® MTB/RIF assay for extrapulmonary tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance Cochrane Database Syst Review

• Click here for entire year's publications

Our centre brings together over 20 investigators with expertise spanning epidemiology, policy setting, economic analyses, implementation research, meta-analyses,  qualitative research to basic science in microbiology, host genetics and immune response. 

The work is done both at an academic centre and with a number of collaborating groups around the world. On these pages, we introduce the faculty members who are members of our centre and describe our training programs for students.  Find out why our Centre is a world leader in the interdisciplinary study of TB and how we work together to unravel the many mysteries of this recalcitrant disease.