Tuberculosis is the world’s deadliest infectious disease, and killed more than 1.6 million people in 2022. The World Health Organisation (WHO) launched an ambitious End TB strategy in 2015 to reduce TB incidence by 80% and TB deaths by 90% in 2030. With multidrug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis on the rise, this strategy is critically dependent on the development of a better vaccine, improved diagnostics, and new drugs to fight TB. This Nobel in Africa Nobel Symposium in Chemistry will bring together a multidisciplinary group of world leading scientists, working in fields ranging from drug design and its organic chemical synthesis, to biochemical analyses and computational approaches, all the way to medical applications in TB diagnosis and treatment. The invitation-only symposium will gather around 40 scientists and selected observers for three days, with lectures, discussions, and time for informal conversations. Besides the three-day symposium at STIAS, outreach activities at TB research centres in SA are planned before and after the symposium.
Convenors: Fredrik Almqvist, Umeå University, and Jacky Snoep, Stellenbosch University
Download the draft programme here.
Nobel in Africa is a STIAS Initiative in partnership with Stellenbosch University, under the auspices of the Nobel Foundation and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences with funding from the Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation. Public and Outreach Events on 23 and 27 October and during the Symposium dates will be organised as part of the Nobel Symposium in Chemistry on Tuberculosis and Antibiotic Resistance – From Basic Drug Discovery to Clinic and will be announced here in due course.