The fight against TB comes in many forms. For Dr Dali Yin, the key is chemistry.
Yin is working on an early stage TB drug discovery project at the Institute of Materia Medica, in Beijing, China. In collaboration with the TB Alliance and the Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumor Research Institute (BTTTRI), his team is studying a class of compounds called the riminophenazines.
"This class doesn't have cross-resistance with other TB drugs," says Yin. "This is what we want."
Riminophenazines have intrinsic activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes TB, and a related organism that causes leprosy. But the existing compounds have poor solubility and can cause pronounced skin discoloration in patients.
"Solubility has limited their use in clinical treatment," says Yin. "We think we can change that by developing a compound that reduces this drawback and still keeps the antibacterial activity." Yin's first task is a chemical dissection of the riminophenazines: pulling the compounds apart to define which parts are critical for their anti-TB activity.
Yin is no stranger to either TB or BTTTRI. Almost 20 years ago, Yin's roommate got TB. Yin did not get sick, although he was infected, and he continued to visit his roommate during his 3 months of confinement in hospital. That hospital was BTTTRI.
So when the TB Alliance suggested a collaboration, "the first one in my mind was that hospital," says Yin. "Now I am working together with people at this hospital on new TB drugs" - drugs that could shorten and simplify treatment and be active against drug-resistant disease.