Chung laboratory: Investigating the role of functional antibodies against Mycobacterium tuberculosis
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Head of Laboratory
Dr Amy Chung+61 3 8344 1717
Research Overview
View Dr Chung's latest PubMed publications listing here.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infects approximately one third of the world’s population and is currently one of the major causes of morbidity and death worldwide. The role of antibodies in Mtb is underexplored, although rare studies suggest that antibodies may contribute to Mtb control. Preliminary studies by our lab suggest that patients that can control Mtb (latently infected) have improved functional antibody responses compared to symptomatic (active) Mtb patients. Therefore, we are interested in characterising the antibodies from patients with different clinical Mtb disease outcomes in order to further understand the importance of these potentially protective antibodies.
Staff
Samantha Davis, PhD Graduate Researcher
Ebene Haycroft, Casual
Ester Lopez, Research Assistant
Kevin J Selva, Research Officer
Collaborators
Professor Stephen Kent, Professor of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Melbourne
Associate Professor Justin Denholm, Medical Director, Victorian Tuberculosis Program, Melbourne Health; Principal Research Fellow, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne
Dr Kasha Singh, Infectious Diseases Physician, Victorian Infectious Diseases Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital
Professor Nigel Curtis, Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne; Head of Infectious Diseases Unit, Department of General Medicine, The Royal Children's Hospital; Melbourne Leader, Infectious Diseases & Microbiology Group, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Research Opportunities
This research project is available to PhD students, Masters by Research to join as part of their thesis.
Please contact the Research Group Leader to discuss your options.