Grace Muzanyi

Grace Muzanyi is a principal investigator at the Makerere University Biomedical Science Research Center (MAKBRC). He works as a senior clinical trials co-ordinator at the Uganda-Case Western Reserve University Research Collaboration (UCRC) and also as a clinical trial consultant. Muzanyi is interested in understanding the correlation of TB immunological markers (IL-2, IL-IRa, I-P10, MIP-β, MCP-1) and TB sputum culture. Specifically, he wants to: assess the level of each or a combination of cytokines at the time points of active TB diagnosis, months 1, 2, 5, and 6, and how they relate to sputum culture on liquid (days to positivity) and solid (quantitative colony counts) media; to assess the baseline level of each cytokine or a combination and how it correlates with (a) the clinical response to TB treatment at months 1, 2, 5, and 6 and (b) the clinical severity, and radiographic extent (severity) of TB disease at diagnosis and end of treatment; to evaluate the changes in the TB cytokine levels between active, and latent TB during treatment with ERHZ (for active TB), and 6H (for latent TB), stratified by HIV-status; to evaluate the TB cytokine levels across three populations of active TB, Latent TB, and TB-exposed healthy volunteers who are TST/IGRA negative; and to compare the cost-effectiveness of a novel point-of-care test for TB immunological markers against sputum culture (standard of care).