Wellcome International Intermediate Fellowship
Understanding how tuberculous meningitis injures the developing brain — and how we can improve outcomes for children affected by this devastating disease.
Why This Matters
Tuberculous meningitis is the most severe form of tuberculosis in children and remains a major cause of death and long-term disability in South Africa.
Even children who survive often experience lasting difficulties with learning, behaviour, movement, and neurodevelopment. Many of these injuries occur during the most important stages of early brain development.
This fellowship aims to improve understanding of how TBM injures the brain, identify children most at risk of poor outcomes earlier, and support future approaches to diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment.
Biomarkers of
Brain Injury
Detecting Brain Injury Earlier
A major focus of the project is identifying biomarkers in blood that may help clinicians detect brain injury earlier and better predict outcome. The project explores how biomarkers associated with brain injury relate to disease severity, and recovery. Ultimately, this research aims to support more timely diagnosis, monitoring, and prognostication for children with TBM.
Neurodevelopment
& Recovery
Long-Term Outcomes
Children with TBM often face long-term challenges affecting learning, behaviour, cognition, movement, and neurodevelopment. The project follows children beyond their acute illness to better understand recovery and neurocognition over time, helping build a clearer picture of the lasting impact of childhood brain infection.
Advanced
Brain Imaging
Mapping Brain Injury
The project uses advanced MRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to better understand how TBM affects both brain structure and brain connectivity. By studying infarcts and microstructural injury, the project aims to better characterise the mechanisms underlying poor neurological and neurocognitive outcomes in children.
Led by Associate Professor Ursula Rohlwink based at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and the University of Cape Town’s Neuroscience Institute, this fellowship brings together clinicians, scientists, radiologists, and researchers working to improve outcomes for children affected by TBM in high-burden settings.
The project reflects the importance of locally driven neuroscience research in addressing diseases that disproportionately affect children in low- and middle-income countries.
African-led Neuroscience
Nimra Khan
Neuroscience (MSc)
Anna Janisch
Neuroscience Student (MSc)
Masego Mekgoe
Neuropsychology (MA)
Gabriela Singh
Neuroscience (PhD)
