Sara Suliman, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor

Department of Experimental Medicine

Research Description:

Tuberculosis (TB) disease, caused by infection with the intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) remains a leading cause of mortality globally. Interestingly, only 5-10% of Mtb-exposed individuals are estimated to develop active TB in their lifetime, thus posing host-specific factors as mediators of risk of progression to disease. These host factors include several defects in innate and adaptive immunity, metabolic dysregulation, co-infections and comorbidities, and genetic polymorphisms that could mediate susceptibility to TB disease. The focus of the Suliman laboratory is to generate hypotheses from systems biology approaches, such as genome-wide association studies, transcriptional and metabolomic profiling, and expression quantitative trait loci, to identify candidate TB risk pathways and functionally evaluate their roles in TB progression.

Primary Thematic Area:

Immunology

Secondary Thematic Area:

Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis

Research Summary:

Dissecting host mechanisms of tuberculosis (TB) pathogenesis and disease progression, defining immunological correlates of protection, and validating biomarkers and point-of-care diagnostics for TB and COVID-19

Featured Publications:

Early progression to active tuberculosis is a highly heritable trait driven by 3q23 in Peruvians.

Nature communications

Luo Y, Suliman S, Asgari S, Amariuta T, Baglaenko Y, Martínez-Bonet M, Ishigaki K, Gutierrez-Arcelus M, Calderon R, Lecca L, León SR, Jimenez J, Yataco R, Contreras C, Galea JT, Becerra M, Nejentsev S, Nigrovic PA, Moody DB, Murray MB, Raychaudhuri S

Four-Gene Pan-African Blood Signature Predicts Progression to Tuberculosis.

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Suliman S, Thompson EG, Sutherland J, Weiner J, Ota MOC, Shankar S, Penn-Nicholson A, Thiel B, Erasmus M, Maertzdorf J, Duffy FJ, Hill PC, Hughes EJ, Stanley K, Downing K, Fisher ML, Valvo J, Parida SK, van der Spuy G, Tromp G, Adetifa IMO, Donkor S, Howe R, Mayanja-Kizza H, Boom WH, Dockrell HM, Ottenhoff THM, Hatherill M, Aderem A, Hanekom WA, Scriba TJ, Kaufmann SHE, Zak DE, Walzl G, GC6-74 cohort study team, The ACS cohort study team

Peripheral Blood Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells in Tuberculosis Patients and Healthy Mycobacterium tuberculosis-Exposed Controls.

The Journal of infectious diseases

Suliman S, Gela A, Mendelsohn SC, Iwany SK, Tamara KL, Mabwe S, Bilek N, Darboe F, Fisher M, Corbett AJ, Kjer-Nielsen L, Eckle SBG, Huang CC, Zhang Z, Lewinsohn DM, McCluskey J, Rossjohn J, Hatherill M, León SR, Calderon RI, Lecca L, Murray M, Scriba TJ, Van Rhijn I, Moody DB

MR1-Independent Activation of Human Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells by Mycobacteria.

Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950)

Suliman S, Murphy M, Musvosvi M, Gela A, Meermeier EW, Geldenhuys H, Hopley C, Toefy A, Bilek N, Veldsman A, Hanekom WA, Johnson JL, Boom WH, Obermoser G, Huang H, Hatherill M, Lewinsohn DM, Nemes E, Scriba TJ

Dose Optimization of H56:IC31 Vaccine for Tuberculosis-Endemic Populations. A Double-Blind, Placebo-controlled, Dose-Selection Trial

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Suliman S, Luabeya AKK, Geldenhuys H, Tameris M, Hoff ST, Shi Z, Tait D, Kromann I, Ruhwald M, Rutkowski KT, Shepherd B, Hokey D, Ginsberg AM, Hanekom WA, Andersen P, Scriba TJ, Hatherill M

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) Revaccination of Adults with Latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection Induces Long-Lived BCG-Reactive NK Cell Responses.