Paul Ogongo, PhD

My research interests are in understanding the role of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen-specific human T cell responses and how they determine infection outcome, that is, progression to active TB disease or non-progression in latent TB (LTBI). My current work is characterizing TB-specific T cell signatures in LTBI individuals at the highest risk of developing active TB disease and we hope that changes in T cell signatures between progressors and non-progressors will yield novel and insightful data that can inform better vaccination strategies or identify correlates of protection.

Previously, I worked on human lung tissue resident memory T cells in people infected with TB where we showed that T cells response to TB in the lung and blood are fundamentally different because it involves cells that do not recirculate and TB-antigen specific T cells are highly enriched at the site of disease. I am also keen on understanding the impact of HIV coinfection on the TB-antigen specific signatures as HIV is a key driver of TB related deaths.