Title: Mechanisms of varied sensitivity of P. falciparum field isolates to the antimalarial drug pipeline (VSPA)
Study period: 2023 – 2028
Major Goals:
1. To characterise ex vivo sensitivity to lead antimalarial compounds of P. falciparum field isolates.
2. To characterise genotypes of drug sensitivity outliers to identify mediators of decreased sensitivity in field isolates to lead antimalarial compounds.
3. To characterise phenotypes of drug sensitivity outliers to elucidate resistance mechanisms of lead antimalarial compounds.
Study site: Tolab, Laboratory Tororo, Kalongo Laboratory and Molab and Butabika Kampala Laboratories
Collaborators: Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (IDRC), Makerere University College of Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco, Stanford University
Principal Investigators: Samuel L. Nsobya Mellissa Conard, Roland Cooper and Philip Rosenthal
Study Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Title: Resistance of Malaria Parasites to Artemisinin-Based Therapies (REACT)
Study period: 2020 – 2025
Major Goals: The goals of this project are:
(1) To assess impacts of selective pressures for resistance of malaria parasites to ACTs used for the treatment and chemoprevention of malaria,
(2) To characterize phenotypes associated with diminished drug sensitivity, and (3) to identify mediators of high level drug resistance.
Study site: Tolab, Laboratory Tororo, Kalongo Laboratory and Molab and Butabika Kampala Laboratories
Collaborators: Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (IDRC), Makerere University College of Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco, Stanford University
Principal Investigators: Samuel L. Nsobya Mellissa Conard, Roland Cooper and Philip Rosenthal
Study Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Surveillance to track and characterise antimalarial resistance trends in Ugandan Plasmodium falciparum parasites (STARTUP)
Study period: 2022-2027.
Major Goals:
We will characterise emerging antimalarial resistance at field sites across Uganda. We will use molecular, parasitological and epidemiological approaches to understand better the extent and origins of drug resistance, the genotypes that contribute to resistance, and the epidemiological factors that facilitate the evolution of resistant parasites. We hypothesise that multiple locally derived artemisinin-resistant lineages have emerged but that only a subset of lineages with optimal fitness will expand geographically; that decreased efficacy of artemisinins will facilitate the selection of resistance to key partner drugs; and that certain ecological and epidemiological factors will be associated with the geographical and temporal spread of resistant parasites. We will test these hypotheses with the following aims.
Aim 1. Molecular characterisation of resistance to artemisinins and key partner drugs in Uganda
Aim 2. Parasitological characterisation of resistance to artemisinins and key partner drugs in Uganda
Aim 3. Characterisation of ecological and epidemiological factors associated with ACT resistance markers.
Study site: Tolab, Laboratory Tororo, Kalongo Laboratory and Molab and Butabika Kampala Laboratories
Collaborators: Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (IDRC), University of California San Francisco, Stanford University, Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Principal Investigators: Samuel L. Nsobya Mellissa Conard, Philip Rosenthal and Roland Cooper
Study Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
