EPIC – start-up funding

The EPIC project is being submitted as an application for a Wellcome discretionary award. It aims to (a) assess the prevalence of resistance to drugs used in rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB) regimens in 6 key countries across South America, Africa and Asia, to (b) investigate why people fail RR- TB treatment and why drug-resistance may thereby emerge, and (c) to investigate the clinical implications of mutations in genes associated with phenotypic resistance to drugs in RR-TB regimens.EPIC is an ambitious project and the start-up funds are being requested to pay the salary of an experienced research co-ordinator at OUCRU, Vietnam, from January 2026 until EPIC is funded. They will navigate the EPIC project through the process of obtaining permissions and thereby bring the start-date of recruitment in Vietnam forwards significantly. The current source of their salary expires at the end of December. Secondly, the start-up funds would pay for the EPIC PI to visit Vietnam for in-person meetings with the local hospital and the National TB Programme that are essential to align with stake holders in Vietnam.