EMI-TB is an EU Horizon2020 funded action focused on selecting and developing anovel vaccine candidate for TB.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a global health problem, killing 1.5 million people every year. The only currently available vaccine, Mycobacterium bovis BCG, is effective against severe childhood forms, but it demonstrates variable efficacy against the pulmonary form of TB in adults. Many of these adult TB cases result from the reactivation of an initially controlled, latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection.Effective prophylactic vaccination remains the key long-term strategy for combating TBContinued belief in reaching this goal requires unrelenting innovation in the formulation and delivery of candidate vaccines.

EMI-TB aims to:

• Establish an optimal vaccine delivery system for inducing protective mucosal immunity against MTB.
• Identify novel, early stage infection associated CD8+ T-cell epitopes for inducing protective cell mediated immunity.
• To establish correlates of a protective immune response in MTB-exposed humans and vaccinated animals.
• To extensively test the most promising vaccine candidate in preparation for future clinical trials.

The meeting, hosted by Prof. Francesco Dieli and his team was an opportunity to review our progress in mucosal TB vaccine research and definefuture priorities.

12 research groups are participating in the EMI-TB action, including a partner from Mozambique. Our research is supported by 2 SME partners. Click here to learn more about the groups involved in EMI-TB.