The Help Stop TB researchers recently welcomed a new team member, and continue to research for additional students to help with the project.
The video above depicts the Help Stop TB project screensaver.
Background
The Help Stop TB project was created to study the sheath of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, in order to help scientists look for better treatments.
In 2018, approximately 10 million people contracted tuberculosis, and 1.5 million people died. And in a recent publication, the World Health Organization stated, "Between 2020 and 2025 an additional 1.4 million TB deaths could be registered as direct consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic."
Search for new team members
The research team welcomed a new member earlier this year, who you can meet in their most recent project update. They're continuing to look for additional students to help with the project. The search processcan take months under standard circumstances, and in recent years PhD student applications to their university have gone down by approximately 75 percent. Recently, the search process has been further hampered by the ongoing global pandemic.
Data formatting
The researchers are starting to think about how to share their data, in accordance with World Community Grid's open data policy. They have adequate storage for the data they already have--and enough for the additional data they expect to receive--but they want to design a better user interface than what they currently have, so that the data are more accessible and useful for other scientists.
Current status of work units
- In progress: 44 batches (1,085 work units )
- Completed: 23,541 batches
75 batches in the last 30 days
average of 2.5 batches per day
Note: For this particular project, the researchers often need to analyze the batches we send back to them before they can build more work units. This can sometimes lead to an intermittent work unit supply.
Click here to learn more about World Community Grid's monthly project updates.