Christopher Ealand

Dr Ealand completed his PhD on seaweed genetics at the University of Cape Town and returned to Wits University to pursue mycobacterial research as a Post-doctoral fellow. The primary focus of Dr Ealand's research lies within the clinical and basic research science related to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. He has studied various enzymes involved in biosynthesis / remodelling of peptidoglycan in the mycobacterial cell wall. Assessment of their function has been used to gain novel insights into bacterial growth mechanisms and/or to uncover new vulnerabilities for drug development. He has a keen interest in assessing tongue swabs as an alternative approach for sample collection and diagnostic testing of TB (in adults and young children). More recently, he is isolating novel mycobacteriophages to ultimately test as alternative therapies for drug resistant forms of T B