Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Bamako
Mali
In 1988 the Malaria Research and Training Centre (MRTC) was created within the Department of Epidemiology of Parasitical Diseases at the University of Mali (now the University of Bamako). The MRTC is involved in all aspects of research on malaria, directed at the development and testing of appropriate strategies for the eventual control of malaria and the reduction of the burden of disease in the people of Mali, the region, and all of Africa.
The MRTC has developed an integrated approach to the study of malaria using molecular biology as a basis for addressing field epidemiological and entomological problems at the community level. The MRTC has conducted numerous large, longitudinal cohort studies, case-control studies, drug efficacy trials and Phase 1 malaria vaccine trials. The centre maintains six separate field sites with well-characterised and different malaria epidemiology and transmission characteristics. For the MalariaGEN studies samples have been collected from the Gabriel Toure hospital, in Bamako, and the Dogon region 800km to the northeast (the Bandiagara hospital and two villages in the region). The MRTC works closely with the Wenner-Gren Institute, University of Sweden, and is partnered with the University of Maryland.
People
- Prof. Ogobara Doumbo (MalariaGEN Investigator)
- Prof. Abdoulaye Djimde (MalariaGEN Investigator)
- Dr. Mahamadou Thera (MalariaGEN Investigator)
- Ousmane Toure (MalariaGEN Data Fellow)
- Prof. Amagana Dolo (MalariaGEN Investigator)
- Dr Karim Traore (Ethics Research Group)
- Mahamadou Diakite (former MalariaGEN Senior Data Fellow)
How the team are contributing to MalariaGEN
The Malaria Research and Training Centre is recruiting samples for Consortial Project 1, two study sites for Consortial Project 2 in Pongonon and Manteourou and Consortial Project 3 in collaboration with the Wenner-Gren Institute, University of Stockholm.
The Centre aims to recruit 450 cases of severe malaria and 900 matched controls for Consortial Project 1. Recruitment started in October 2006 in the Gabriel Toure hospital in Bamako and the Bandiagara referral hospital. In both hospitals they found a lower incidence of severe malaria than expected. Most of the cases referred were of milder intensity than is required for entry into the study. This has caused some delays in the recruitment of cases. The Centre is also participating in research into seeking consent to genomic research.
The Centre has two studies involved in Consortial Project 2. The first is a cross-sectional survey performed in a village in the Dogon region. Overall, almost 1000 DNA and serum samples have been recruited from both Dogon and Fulani ethnic groups. For the second study, recruitment is being conducted in a second village of about 700 inhabitants in the same region. It is being performed within a prospective chloroquine efficacy survey. Patients aged 6 months or more are being recruited who have been treated with chloroquine for uncomplicated malaria.
For Consortial Project 3 the Centre is recruiting 3 sets of 90 trios.