I am a Clinician Investigator in the Division of Infectious Diseases at University of Virginia and am submitting this revised K24 proposal to move my research more deeply into patient oriented research (POR) and to provide protected time to mentor such trainees. In the 11 years since completion of ID fellowship I have developed a research program in several domains of tropical infectious diseases, now largely focused on the development of molecular diagnostic tools. Currently funded work includes a panel of assays to screen for the wide array of potential enteropathogens (Gates Foundation) and a PCR-based susceptibility test for second line drugs against MDR Tuberculosis (R01). With mature molecular diagnostics and collaborative clinical sites in place, now is an opportune time for this K24 to take these diagnostics to carefully designed POR studies in order to inform clinically important areas such as the cause of diarrhea in developing countries and proper treatment for MDR Tb.
Specific Aims i nclude (1) using our molecular diagnostics on enteropathogens, collaborations with field sites, and a range of statistical methods (odds ratios, quantitative loads, and prospective analysis) and intervention studies to infer what are the major pathogens associated with childhood diarrhea in developing countries and (2) using our molecular Tuberculosis drug susceptibility tests and collaborations with MDR Tb field sites to quantify improvements in drug susceptibility turnaround time and time-to-active MDR Tb regimen. This grant will allow me to gain needed training in elements of POR including clinical trial design and longitudinal biostatistics and will offer much-needed protected time for mentoring ID fellows and junior faculty in the Division and beyond. Furthermore I propose to use the program created by this K24 and my role as Vice-Chair for Research to bring together Departments of Medicine, Public Health Sciences, and Pediatrics as a platform for improvements in POR mentoring across the School.

Public Health Relevance

Through current research support we have developed leading-edge molecular diagnostics for enteropathogens and drug resistant Tuberculosis. This proposal will now apply these tools to international field studies in diarrheal diseases and MDR Tuberculosis. It will bring together mentors from across the Departments of Medicine, Public Health Sciences, and Pediatrics at the University of Virginia to catalyze and allow protected time for mentoring of ID fellows in patient oriented research.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24)
Project #
5K24AI102972-02
Application #
8685121
Study Section
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Research Committee (MID)
Program Officer
Hall, Robert H
Project Start
2013-07-01
Project End
2018-06-30
Budget Start
2014-07-01
Budget End
2015-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Virginia
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
City
Charlottesville
State
VA
Country
United States
Zip Code
22904
Pholwat, Suporn; Liu, Jie; Stroup, Suzanne et al. (2017) The Malaria TaqMan Array Card Includes 87 Assays for Plasmodium falciparum Drug Resistance, Identification of Species, and Genotyping in a Single Reaction. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 61:
Foongladda, S; Banu, S; Pholwat, S et al. (2016) Comparison of TaqMan(®) Array Card and MYCOTB(TM) with conventional phenotypic susceptibility testing in MDR-TB. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 20:1105-12
Pholwat, Suporn; Sakai, Fuminori; Turner, Paul et al. (2016) Development of a TaqMan Array Card for Pneumococcal Serotyping on Isolates and Nasopharyngeal Samples. J Clin Microbiol 54:1842-1850
Liu, Jie; Ochieng, Caroline; Wiersma, Steve et al. (2016) Development of a TaqMan Array Card for Acute-Febrile-Illness Outbreak Investigation and Surveillance of Emerging Pathogens, Including Ebola Virus. J Clin Microbiol 54:49-58
Pholwat, Suporn; Stroup, Suzanne; Heysell, Scott et al. (2016) eis Promoter C14G and C15G Mutations Do Not Confer Kanamycin Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 60:7522-7523
Pholwat, Suporn; Liu, Jie; Stroup, Suzanne et al. (2015) Integrated microfluidic card with TaqMan probes and high-resolution melt analysis to detect tuberculosis drug resistance mutations across 10 genes. MBio 6:e02273
Heysell, Scott K; Ahmed, Shahriar; Ferdous, Sara Sabrina et al. (2015) Quantitative drug-susceptibility in patients treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Bangladesh: implications for regimen choice. PLoS One 10:e0116795
Foongladda, Suporn; Klayut, Wiphat; Pholwat, Suporn et al. (2015) Comparison and development of pyrazinamide susceptibility testing methods for tuberculosis in Thailand. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis 83:270-3
Foongladda, Suporn; Klayut, Wiphat; Chinli, Rattapha et al. (2014) Use of mycobacteriophage quantitative PCR on MGIT broths for a rapid tuberculosis antibiogram. J Clin Microbiol 52:1523-8
Platts-Mills, James A; Gratz, Jean; Mduma, Esto et al. (2014) Association between stool enteropathogen quantity and disease in Tanzanian children using TaqMan array cards: a nested case-control study. Am J Trop Med Hyg 90:133-8

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