One of the major obstacles complicating TB treatment is acquired drug resistance, which comes at a fitness cost. The Rock lab is working to find proteins and pathways that promote fitness of drug-resistant TB, with the long-term goal of developing inhibitors against such proteins to better control the emergence and spread of drug-resistant TB.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the leading cause of death due to infectious disease. By investigating the mechanisms that enable this bacterium to cause tuberculosis and evade current antibiotics, the Rock lab aims to lay the foundation for new therapeutic strategies to improve control of this epidemic.
