UTHSC at Tyler Receives $1.4 Million for Research

TYLER — The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler has been awarded a grant renewal in the amount of nearly $1.4 million. It was awarded to continue tuberculosis research in their biomedical research center. While less common in the United States, TB is still considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the world’s deadliest diseases. Serving as the principal investigator, Rama Vankayalapati, PhD, will continue to explore the human immune responses to the disease.

The research aims to find novel biomarkers that will identify persons at increased risk of developing active TB. The grant is from the National Institutes of Health and CRDF Global. The United States TB incidence rate in 2018 was the lowest ever reported at 2.8 cases per 100,000 persons. Approximately 66% of these cases were attributed to non–U.S.-born persons.