DrAnkur Gupta-Wright

Dr Ankur Gupta-Wright’s research programme focuses on improving outcomes from infectious diseases through the development, evaluation and implementation of innovative diagnostics and pragmatic clinical interventions. His work spans the full translational pathway, from assay validation to diagnostic accuracy studies, randomised controlled trials, health economic evaluations and implementation research. The overarching aim of his research is to generate evidence that enables new technologies and strategies to be adopted into routine practice in the NHS and in global health settings.

A central theme of his work is the generation of evidence that directly informs policy and clinical practice. His research has contributed to World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations and national tuberculosis and HIV policies, helping to accelerate the translation of new diagnostics and interventions into patient benefit.

Tuberculosis and HIV-associated Infections

A major focus of Dr Gupta-Wright’s research is tuberculosis (TB), particularly among people living with HIV and other populations at high risk of severe disease and death. His work has evaluated host-response biomarkers, urine-based assays, molecular diagnostics and clinical risk scores to improve the diagnosis, prognostication and management of both pulmonary and disseminated TB.

He led the STAMP trial, which demonstrated that systematic screening with urine lipoarabinomannan (LAM) and Xpert MTB/RIF in hospitalised people living with HIV reduced mortality. This study contributed directly to WHO recommendations for tuberculosis screening and diagnosis in people with advanced HIV disease. He continues to evaluate novel urine-based diagnostics and is involved in the development and evaluation of swab-based, near point-of-care molecular tests for tuberculosis, which aim to provide simpler, non-sputum-based diagnostic pathways. Dr Gupta-Wright is also the lead investigator for the drug-resistant tuberculosis arm of the R2D2-TB platform trial, which is evaluating shorter, safer and more effective treatment regimens for drug-resistant TB.

Diagnostic Biomarkers and In Vitro Diagnostics

Dr Gupta-Wright’s research focuses on the discovery and validation of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for infectious diseases. This includes host-response signatures, inflammatory biomarkers and multiplex diagnostic platforms that can improve early diagnosis, identify patients at high risk of poor outcomes, and guide treatment decisions. He co-led the Wellcome-funded TB-BIOATLAS project, which aims to describe use cases and landscape biomarkers and tests for TB diagnosis, treatment response and prognosis.

He works with the Infectious and Respiratory Diseases clinical theme within the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) in In Vitro Diagnostics. In this role, he works with academic, NHS and industry partners to identify unmet clinical needs, generate the evidence required for regulatory approval and health technology adoption, and support the translation of innovative diagnostic technologies into routine NHS practice. The Centre provides a “one-stop” research infrastructure to accelerate evaluation and uptake of diagnostics across infectious diseases, respiratory medicine, cancer, critical care and primary care.

Respiratory Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance

Dr Gupta-Wright’s research examines how diagnostics can improve the management of respiratory infections, including COVID-19, influenza, bacterial pneumonia and tuberculosis. He is particularly interested in technologies that distinguish bacterial from viral illness, detect antimicrobial resistance and support more precise antimicrobial prescribing. He is the scientific lead for two large Horizon Europe consortia, BreathForDx and B-Path, which are evaluating breath-based pathogen detection technologies for tuberculosis and respiratory infections with epidemic potential, with a focus on rapid diagnosis and antimicrobial resistance detection.

In Bangladesh, he leads research to understand diagnostic testing capacity, antimicrobial resistance detection and readiness for the introduction of reserve antibiotics. He has also contributed to Fleming Fund-supported evaluations to strengthen laboratory systems and surveillance for antimicrobial resistance in low- and middle-income countries.

Clinical Trials

Dr Gupta-Wright designs and leads diagnostic accuracy studies, prospective cohort studies, pragmatic randomised controlled trials. His research places a strong emphasis on implementation science to understand barriers and facilitators to adoption and to ensure that effective innovations can be integrated into healthcare systems in a sustainable and equitable manner. He is also interested in how we can improve the management of common infection syndromes in the UK and similar high-income settings. He is a site PI/co-PI on several major infection trials, including DURATION-UTI (pyelonephritis), SNAP (Staphyloccus aureus bacteraemia) and TB-DILI (TB drug induced liver injury).

Evidence Synthesis, Guidelines and Policy Impact

Evidence synthesis is a major component of Dr Gupta-Wright’s research programme. He has led systematic reviews and meta-analyses that have directly informed international and national guidance. He led the evidence synthesis underpinning the WHO update of tuberculosis screening guidelines, and is leading the British HIV Association (BHIVA) guidelines on tuberculosis diagnostics. He has also contributed to WHO guideline development on diagnostics for lower respiratory tract infections.

Global Collaborations and Impact

Dr Gupta-Wright collaborates with partners across the UK, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Europe to evaluate diagnostics and interventions in diverse healthcare settings. These collaborations ensure that innovations are relevant, scalable and responsive to real-world clinical needs. By integrating translational research, clinical trials, implementation science and evidence synthesis, his programme aims to improve patient outcomes, strengthen health systems and accelerate the adoption of effective diagnostics and interventions worldwide.