Antibody biomarkers of pathogen and vector exposure for improved malaria surveillance

Malaria is a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality. Efforts to eliminate malaria are constrained by a lack of highly sensitive surveillance tools and approaches to accurately detect malaria transmission throughout exposed populations. Serosurveillance is a strategy for monitoring malaria exposure and transmission by measuring the host antibody response to the causative pathogen and/or transmitting vector.

This project will focus on identification and evaluation of antibody responses to both parasite (malaria causing Plasmodium spp.) and vector (malaria transmitting Anopheles spp. mosquitoes) candidate biomarkers to monitor ongoing transmission of malaria and the efficacy of malaria interventions. Students will quantify host antibody dynamics following mosquito exposure and malaria infection to identify candidate parasite and vector serosurveillance biomarkers. This project will also explore sentinel and high-risk surveillance populations living in malaria endemic settings to test these approaches for monitoring ongoing malaria transmission in these regions. Expansion into other vector borne diseases may also be pursued.

The project will combine laboratory-based research, including immunoassays (e.g. ELISA) and molecular techniques (e.g. quantitative PCR) in large cohort studies conducted in malaria endemic populations, with statistical analyses. This project is suited to students with a keen interest in infectious diseases, immunology, epidemiology, and public health. Specific techniques could be tailored to meet the students interests and background.