Partner study description

Together with colleagues at the United States Army Medical Research Directorate in Kenya, Edwin Kamau is investigating population structure and signals of selection from anti-malarial drug resistance of Plasmodium falciparum in Kenya. The aim is to analyse the parasite’s genetic diversity to inform malaria control policy in sub-Saharan Africa. Specific focus will be on finding molecular markers of antimalarial drug resistance, measuring frequencies or novel markers of resistance to artemisinin, comparing heterozygosity by conventional MoI and FWs metric and monitor the emergence and spread of artemisinin resistance in sub-Saharan Africa. This study is contributing to the Plasmodium Diversity Network Africa (PDNA), an African-led network investigating the genetic diversity and drug resistance of Plasmodium parasites across Africa.

Publications

• An open dataset of Plasmodium falciparum genome variation in 7,000 worldwide samples
  MalariaGEN et. al
  Wellcome Open Research, 2021; 6 42
  10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16168.1
• K13-propeller polymorphisms in Plasmodium falciparum parasites from sub-Saharan Africa
  Kamau et al.
  Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2015; 211(8) 1352-5
  10.1093/infdis/jiu608