Bridgette Cumming

Bridgette Cumming is a Research Associate at the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) in Durban, South Africa. Her research focuses on understanding how immunometabolism in people with active tuberculosis (TB) is altered, with the aim of identifying host-directed therapeutic strategies to improve immune responses to infection.

Her work also investigates the effects of HIV co-infection and hyperglycaemia on immune cell metabolism in TB patients, as well as changes in circulating immune cells during TB treatment as potential biomarkers of treatment response, cure or failure. In addition, she studies how anti-TB drugs and prolonged treatment regimens influence immune cell metabolism and function, with implications for future immunometabolic toxicity screening of novel anti-TB drug candidates.