A team of infection researchers and bioinformaticians from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom have developed a 3D system of spheres to gain insight on how the body reacts to tuberculosis (TB).

Using electrostatic encapsulation, researchers developed small 3D spheres with TB bacteria inside. These spheres gave researchers a look into the reaction of the human body with during the advancement of TB. The team's goals are to use the simulations to improve treatments and vaccines.

“We believe this is a really exciting development for the field of tuberculosis research,” said Paul Elkington, who led the research group. “The 3D sphere can be created with a collagen matrix so it is more like a human lung. This produces an environment which allows particular antibiotics that are important in treating patients to kill the infection, which they cannot do in other 2D model systems. This system will help us speed up the process of finding treatments and vaccines for human tuberculosis, an infection that kills 1.8 million people per year."

The 3D spheres are also capable of increasing experiment duration by three weeks, four times longer than using 2D models, giving researchers a larger among of information on where the infection develops and its effects on treatments.

"There is a huge amount to be gained from infectious disease biologists and engineers working together, as they push each other out of their comfort zones and force a new perspective on the problem being tackled,” said Al Leslie, of the Africa Health Research Institute. “This grant is the start of what we hope to be a long-term collaboration that will bring real innovation to our TB research programs and speed up the pace of discovery to fight this deadly epidemic."