Honorary Professor Robert J. Wilkinson

CIDRI-Africa

Affiliations

  1. Full Member, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
  2. Director, Wellcome Discovery Research Platforms in Infection (CIDRI-Africa)
  3. Principal Group Leader at The Francis Crick Institute, London; and Professor in Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London

Key Expertise

AIDS, Bacterial Infections, Co-Infection, HIV, HIV-TB Immunology, TB

Main Research Focus

Robert J. Wilkinson’s interests are focused on clinical and immunological aspects of tuberculosis, particularly in the context of HIV-1 infection.

HIV and TB are the most pressing public health problems in Africa: in South Africa, many hundreds of people still die prematurely per day because of HIV, many due to co-existent TB. The epidemiology and clinical features of HIV associated TB are well researched, but few studies have addressed in detail the cellular mechanisms. His research programme derives its research questions from the clinical care of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV-TB co-infected persons in South Africa and London. Through clinically-based studies, they aim to improve knowledge of pathogenesis and thereby improve prevention and treatment.

Most Significant Paper Authored in 2024

Nanopore sequencing-based pharmacogenomic panel to personalize tuberculosis drug dosing

Verma, R., da Silva, K.E., Rockwood, N.S., Wasmann, R.E., Yende, N., Song, T., Kim, E., Denti, P., Wilkinson, R.J., Andrews, J.R. (2024).  

We developed a custom, single-tube Nanopore sequencing panel to detect mutations for predicting the metabolism of isoniazid, rifampicin, linezolid, and bedaquiline. Such assays are not currently available in clinical settings to guide drug dosing. We validated our panel on Coriell DNA samples (n = 48) and achieved 100% concordance with Illumina whole-genome sequencing data. Next, we validated the predicted metabolism of isoniazid and rifampicin on the basis of genotypes derived from the pharmacogenomic panel in patients with active tuberculosis (TB) (n = 100) undergoing treatment and found strong correlation with INH metabolism. Targeted sequencing on an affordable and portable device can facilitate the identification of polymorphisms that impact TB drug metabolism, allowing for personalized dosing in TB treatment or prevention.

Departments