The Tulane Mellon Graduate Program in Community-Engaged Scholarship in the Humanities — based at the School of Liberal Arts — will widen its scope to include undergraduates, new community relationships through more public events and groundbreaking work on a national level. The expansion is made possible by a $1.5 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The program will expand its local network by co-sponsoring additional community events that connect activists, artists and scholars.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have developed a highly sensitive blood test that can find traces of the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB) in infants a year before they develop the deadly disease. Using only a small blood sample, the test detects a protein secreted by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes TB infection. The test can screen for all forms of TB and rapidly evaluate a patient’s response to treatment, said lead study author Tony Hu, Weatherhead Presidential Chair in Biotechnology Innovation.

Patrick Button, associate professor of economics at the School of Liberal Arts, is studying discrimination in access to mental health care for LGBTQ+ people and marginalized communities and whether the problem has been exacerbated by the pandemic. The project, which was awarded a National Science Foundation grant, will also explore discrimination against underrepresented groups when applying for mortgages, develop new analytical tools for economics research using text data and establish a mentoring program for underrepresented graduate and undergraduate students in economics.