News
$38 Million for the H3Africa project - 6th July 2010
The aim of The Human Heredity and Health in Africa Project (H3Africa) is to support African scientists conducting population-based genetic studies, in Africa, of common, non-communicable disorders, for instance heart disease and cancer, and communicable diseases like malaria. The African Society for Human Genetics will help to organise researchers in Africa. The researchers that receive...Read full story
Genomic Epidemiology in Africa - 15th June 2010
A Wellcome Trust Advanced Course is to be held on Genomic Epidemiology in Africa at the KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya from 28 Nov - 3 Dec 2010. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have become a powerful tool for obtaining clues to the genetics of resistance and susceptibility to disease. This computer-based course, will follow the experimental process; starting with...Read full story
MapSeq: New Interactive Malaria Database - 20th April 2010
MapSeq, an interactive web-based database of genome variation in the malaria parasite, has recently been launched. As described in the international IT magazine WIRED: “The latest anti-malaria weapon is not a drug -- it's data. If you can sequence the genomes of thousands of malaria parasites and of the Anopheles mosquitoes that carry them, you can spot genetic mutations that can cause...Read full story
Third Annual Genomic Epidemiology of Malaria Conference - 31st March 2010
The third annual conference on Genomic Epidemiology of Malaria is being held at the Wellcome Trust Conference Centre in Hinxton, UK from June 9th-12th 2010. This meeting brings together malaria scientists and clinicians working at the interface of genome science and technology, clinical epidemiology, and statistical epidemiology and genetics, with an interest in understanding the clinical...Read full story
MalariaGEN contributes to review exploring genome-wide association analysis in Africa - 2nd February 2010
Researchers working with MalariaGEN have published a new review; “Methodological challenges of genome-wide association analysis in Africa”. The review discusses how genome-wide association (GWA) studies in Africa have the potential to give valuable insights into infectious and non-communicable diseases. GWA studies in Africa have some methodological challenges that are not usually...Read full story
MalariaGEN Develops Data Policies for Developing Country GWAS - 24th November 2009
Researchers from the MalariaGEN Consortium have published a new paper in Plos Medicine discussing the MalariaGEN Data Release Policy. The paper highlights the challenges in generating an ethical data release policy that acknowledges the interests of all stakeholders involved in genome-wide association studies, and discusses how MalariaGEN sought to address these.
The paper was also...Read full story
MalariaGEN Symposium held at MIM Conference - 2nd November 2009
MalariaGEN hosted a Symposium 'Toward Genomic Epidemiology of Malaria: Progress, Challenges, and Potential' at the Multi-Lateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Conference in Nairobi on November 2nd, 2009.
The session focused on how large-scale studies of genome variation in developing countries pose new scientific, ethical and practical challenges; yet offer an unprecedented opportunity to...Read full story
World's Largest Malaria Conference Opened in Nairobi - 1st November 2009
The world's largest malaria conference opened today with a call for substantial and sustained support for research to guide evidence-based policies and the development of new malaria tools, which together could save countless lives.
The 5th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Pan-African Conference brings together 2,000 researchers, health workers, public health officials, policymakers and...Read full story
New Doctoral Studentship in Ethics - 30th September 2009
The Ethox Centre, a MalariaGEN partner, has been awarded a major Wellcome Trust Enhancement Award to establish an international research network on the ethics of collaborative global health research. Within this award applications are invited for the second of three Wellcome Trust studentships to carry out doctoral research on the ethics of collaborative global health research.
The Network, which...Read full story
Insights from Local Study Sites - 5th August 2009
MalariaGEN partners across 14 malaria-endemic countries have worked with local communities to recruit over 50,000 samples in the last 4 years. Each partner has designed and implemented their own local study into the natural mechanisms of resistence to malaria. Learn more about the challenges faced and experiences gained by these partners.
MalariaGEN data fellows share their experiences in the...Read full story
Studies of Malaria Immunity - 6th July 2009
MalariaGEN's Consortial Project 2 aims to understand the functional effects of genetic variation on the immune response to malaria. Eight partners in malaria-endemic countries are involved and new study descriptions are now available which provide information on the study populations, morbidity, infection densities and clinical data. These sites are:
Burkina Faso: The Centre National de...Read full story
MalariaGEN Investigator Receives Award - 28th June 2009
The National Academy of Pharmacy of France has awarded Dr Abdoulaye Djimdé its "Prix de la Pharmacie Francophone". Dr Djimdé is a research scientist from the Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC), University of Bamako, and Malian EDCTP Senior Fellow. The prize is in recognition of his outstanding contribution within the Francophone community. The Award was presented to Dr Djimdé in the...Read full story
MalariaGEN's First Genome-Wide Association Paper - 1st June 2009
A study of children with malaria in The Gambia, West Africa, has provided new insights into how to conduct genetic studies of common diseases in African populations, which are far more genetically-diverse than European or Asian populations.
Scientists believe that a wide range of genetic factors affect an individual's ability to resist malaria, and MalariaGEN researchers are attempting to...Read full story
MalariaGEN Consortial Paper Published in Nature - 7th January 2009
MalariaGEN's first paper was published in Nature on December 11th 2008. The Commentary Article A global network for investigating the genomic epidemiology of malaria explores how MalariaGEN has used a consortial approach to overcome the challenges of undertaking genome wide association studies of malaria.
The paper describes how MalariaGEN established a global research network, how the network...Read full story
Update on Data Access - 28th November 2008
A keystone of MalariaGEN's scientific programme is to use genome-wide association (GWA) analysis to discover genes that determine resistance to severe malaria. This is the focus of Consortial Project 1, which includes study sites in 11 malaria-endemic countries.
GWA studies of malaria present many methodological challenges, which largely arise from the great genetic diversity of African...Read full story