Monday 11th June until Wednesday 13th June delegates from all over the world assembled for the MBLA Conference at the University of St Andrews, School of Medicine. The conference was organized and sponsored by the University of St Andrews and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), in cooperation with the PanACEA Biomarkers Expertise Core. The conference consisted for a large part of practicalities that successfully trained the participants in Molecular Bacterial Load (MBL) assay and analysis.
This MBL assay was developed through PanACEA Capacity Development and the PANBIOME study. The MBL assay is quite easy to master but this novel quantitative method will significantly speed up the advancement of clinical trials and save resources. It allows for a smaller sample size and a more rapid and accurate identification of viable TB bacteria. The assay performs well in different laboratory circumstances, different aspects of TB diagnostics and treatment monitoring.
MBL assay will be rolled out to many PanACEA trial sites. This will build the capacity of Southern centers to deliver cutting edge microbiological methods and expand their opportunities to perform research.
