The major activities of this research project in this initial year have centered around identifying the research needs of the IRP groups engaged in tuberculosis research and defining the physical and human resources necessary to meet those needs. These activities included identifying and purchasing the new equipment including a second new PET/CT scanner, developing a staffing plan and position descriptions, working to interview, hire and train those staff, and developing supply lists and inventories as well as developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) to guide the work of those staff. At the time the project began, the existing PET scanner and separate CT were at the end of their manufactured life span. A new PET/CT scanner had been purchased but the methods for its use had not been established either by the company or other labs, so we are currently working on the optimization of the system for our purposes. Specifically, the efficiency of the new PET array is higher than that of the Focus 220 system so we are redetermining optimal dose of 18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) to image Mtb-infected lungs of the several species we use as models. The new PET/CT system was also delivered without key software functions for CT respiratory gating needed for our smaller primates so we have begun using the new system with the larger primates until the software can be deployed. As a part of these efforts we are also optimizing anesthesia protocols, ventilation procedures and breath-hold methods to produce the best images as safely as possible for the subjects. The process is still ongoing, but a standard protocol for medium sized (3 to 4 kg) animals was established so that experiments could begin only a few weeks after the PET/CT scanner was moved into the scanning suite. We are working hand in hand with the manufacturer of the PET/CT and the 2 other labs currently trying to optimize the scanning protocols to advance our common need to image TB-infected primates. In the last 3 months since the scanner was moved into the animal facility, several experiments testing new anti-bacterial agents have been started in addition to an experiment testing the effect of an immunotherapeutic, and continued testing of a host-directed therapy strategy. In the meantime, optimization of the imaging protocol continues with the intention of moving in the replacement PET/CT scanner into the animal facility in very early 2019 with functional respiratory gating for the CT modality of the scanner.
