1st TANDEM Progress Meeting at Stellenbosch University, South Africa

On 16 and 17 April 2014, the TANDEM consortium came together to hold its 1st Progress Meeting. The meeting took place in at Stellenbosch University, which one of the four TANDEM field sites that recruit patients for the clinical study on Tuberculosis (TB) and Diabetes (DM), a central part of the project.

The Progress Meeting in South Africa marked the end of the first project year, in which the consortium had successfully launched the clinical trial by initiating patient recruitment at all four field sites in Romania, Peru, South Africa and Indonesia, built up a central database for data storing and sharing and started the lab-related research activities. Supported by regular telephone conferences and sub-group meetings, consortium partners have established a fruitful collaboration and all activities are moving forward in a satisfactory manner.

At the meeting in Cape Town, consortium members discussed the results obtained so far and defined the next steps to be taken based on the project work plan. The Stellenbosch University (SUN) visit also included a field trip to one of the local patient recruitment sites (local hospital) and the SUN lab. This was of specific interest for the representatives of the remaining field sites and led to a fruitful exchange on best practices regarding the implementation of patient recruitment and processing of patient samples.

In fact, the Progress Meeting has shown that the TANDEM project is on track and consortium members are excited about the developments that lay ahead. The entire TANDEM team will make every effort to keep up the good work.