Q&A with Mary Nantongo: Improving Existing Antibiotics to Fight Tuberculosis

Mary Nantongo’s journey into scientific research began in Uganda, where she grew up witnessing the tremendous impact that infectious diseases like HIV and tuberculosis (TB) had on families and communities, including her own. Uganda reports about 200 cases of TB per 100,000 people, and HIV is the biggest driver of TB, with about 40% of diagnosed TB patients co-infected with HIV.

“As a medical laboratory technologist, I had the opportunity to work closely with patients, and I saw firsthand the challenges that these diseases had on these patients,” Nantongo said.

Her experiences inspired her to pursue her PhD at Case Western Reserve University, where her research focuses on developing therapeutics to better manage drug-resistant TB. Nantongo received a 2026 PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Drug Discovery for her research on antibiotics called β-lactams, which kill bacteria by stopping proteins from constructing the bacteria’s protective cell wall.

Although these drugs have been safely used for many years to treat other infections, they have not been used for TB. Having understood why they don’t work well for TB, Nantongo is studying how different combinations of these drugs or making small improvements to them can help them work better for TB, creating a fast and more affordable approach to manage this disease.

Watch this video to learn more about Nantongo and her research.