​​Professor Grant Theron of the FMHS' Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics recently received the Gertrud Meissner Award from the European Society for Mycobacteriology.

This is an annual award which is given to scientists doing excellent research in the field of mycobacteriology in an early phase of their careers.

This is not Theron's first recognition for his research – he was recognised in 2015 by the National Research Foundation for his work, and received development awards from both the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council.

The award consists of a commemorative medal, an award certificate and a prize of 2000 €. Theron received it for his overall contribution to the field.

"I focused on work done to evaluate novel TB diagnostics for the first time in high-burden African settings, how the impact of these tests can be measured, as well as easy ways of improving the diagnosis of drug-resistant TB to fill gaps in the TB care cascade (and hence reduce patients lost by the system)," said Theron.

He further stated that he also outlined how this work had influenced global policy processes, leading to the WHO deciding to endorse a new test. This could induce national health programmes to buy into a new technology. He mentions, as an example, the work they did on MTBDRsl, the only rapid test for second-line drug-resistance, which is now standard of care.

So what does the award mean to him on a personal level?

"Personally, it is humbling and affirming of the research we have chosen to do. Recognition such as this from an international society is evidence of high quality and highly relevant research (to global public health) at SU and in SA, which is often done in limited circumstances.

"TB is the biggest cause of death in SA and, globally, the single biggest infectious cause of death. Much TB and most drug-resistant TB is never diagnosed. My research focus is on finding pragmatic solutions to improve the diagnosis of TB (both through clinical evaluations in the field and optimising laboratory tools) and drug resistance (to make sure patients are placed on more effective drugs sooner)," he elaborates.

He further states that he is also interested in understanding the transmission of TB (why some people and some strains are more infectious than others) and whether the microbiome (the collection of bacteria throughout our bodies) plays any role in TB.