Working Group on New TB Diagnostics - Home

Dear Colleagues

We write to you on behalf of the Stop TB Partnership's Working Group on New Diagnostics (WGND).

The WGND was established in 2001 as a platform for focus on promoting development and adoption of new and modified diagnostic products. Since then, the WGND secretariat (UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR)) and the Chair, Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) along with all the members of the WGND including international organizations, academia, NGOs and industry have contributed significantly to the advances in the field of TB diagnostics.

The mission of the WG is to advocate and implement research and/or operational activities in pursuit of the development and implementation of TB diagnostic tools and to collaborate with other elements of the Partnership so as to create synergy and add value to actions taken in pursuit of the aims of the Partnership.

The WGND has recently been restructured. A core group has been established, with representation from major interest groups. To complement this, eight sub groups with specific tasks have also been created. Each subgroup has two joint co-ordinators who will develop work plans and targets for the sub group. The proposed structure is as shown in Fig 1 of the attached Draft Strategic Plan. There are five subgroups with primary responsibility for advancing technology and the remaining three provide necessary information around specific issues that should guide tool development and implementation. These subgroups will work together to achieve WGND goals.

You are invited to join our Working Group. We attach a membership form, a copy of the latest draft of the NDWG Strategic Plan, and a flyer for our annual meeting at the Union Conference in Cape Town, on the 9th November 2007. The annual meeting presents an ideal opportunity to be updated on progress towards new diagnostic tools for tuberculosis. We hope you will be able to attend.

Best regards

Giorgio Roscigno
Chair

Andy Ramsay
Secretary

Stop TB Partnership
Working Group on New Diagnostics

Membership form
Draft of the NDWG Strategic Plan
Flyer for our annual meeting at the Union Conference in Cape Town

Determining Future TB Reference Material Requirements:
WHO/TDR TB Expert & End-User Survey

WHO/TDR in collaboration with the Stop TB Partnership Working Group on New Diagnostics are calling upon TB experts and TB reference material users including academic scientists, test developers, lab managers to inform the future activities of the WHO/TDR sponsored TB specimen and Strain banks. To this end, a survey has been developed to gain insight into your current and future needs for TB specimens (type, patient characteristics) and TB strain needs (phenotypic, genotypic characterization of drug resistance) to support development of quality TB diagnostics. If you (or your company/institution) require or will be requiring TB specimens and/or strains to support TB diagnostics research, development, evaluation and quality control activities, please complete the survey.

Request for Applications for a Point-of-Care Technologies Research Network

14 November 2006
The US National Institutes of Health is announcing a call for applications for the support of a Point-of-Care Technologies Research Network, consisting of individual Centers, that will work to build expertise in the development of integrated systems that address unmet clinical needs in point-of-care testing through the creation of multidisciplinary partnerships. Each Center within the network will perform or facilitate five different Core functions: (1) conducting in-house clinical testing of prototype point-of-care devices; (2) collaborating with physical scientists, biochemical scientists, computational scientists, and engineers on exploratory technology development projects; (3) completing clinical needs assessments in areas anticipated to advance the field of point-of-care testing and disseminating this information to the technology development community; (4) providing training to technology developers on clinical issues related to the development of point-of-care devices; and (5) providing an adequate administrative structure to ensure that the large, complex Center achieves its goals. The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) anticipates commitment of up to $6,000,000 in FY2007 for this program. The NIBIB anticipates that up to 3 awards will be made.

Request for Applications: Improving the diagnosis of tuberculosis through optimization of sputum smear microscopy

Request for Applications for Diagnostic Trial Sites
WHO/TDR Trial Site Description Form