Adrie JC Steyn 

Adrie Steyn is a basic scientist with appointments at the Africa Health Research Institute and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has a broad background in molecular genetics, with expertise in Mtb virulence and pathogenesis using different animal models for tuberculosis (TB). He has developed novel tools and approaches for studying Mtb bioenergetics and redox homeostasis using the Agilent Seahorse XF96, studying the effect of NO, CO and hypoxia on Mtb persistence in vivo.
His laboratory at AHRI integrates basic science expertise with clinical science. He is leading efforts for the Human Lung Project, a prospective cohort established to collect resected lung tissue samples from TB patients. His Lab has acquired substantial experience in handling MDR and XDR-infected human lung samples, processing freshly resected lung TB tissue for flow cytometry analysis, collecting blood, and the isolation of genomic DNA, RNA, metabolites and protein. His research focus is directed to understanding the fundamental principles of disease and persistence in human pulmonary TB patients. He has established productive collaborations with cardiothoracic surgeons, anatomical and forensic pathologists at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, Durban, as well as with forensic pathologists in the private sector in South Africa, to study freshly resected lung tissue, archived, formalin fixed tissue, and postmortem tissue.  More recently he has utilized micro-computed tomography (µCT) and HRCT for characterizing the 3D environment of the human tuberculous lung and have adapted the Agilent Seahorse XF96 technology for examining how Mtb reprograms macrophage and T cell bioenergetics during infection.