Investigating the genetic determinants of resistance to malaria

A person’s risk of developing severe malaria is influenced by many different genetic and environmental factors, but we know relatively little about their precise nature and how they interact.

This project's primary objective was to better understand the human genetic factors involved in resistance to severe malaria. This information could provide vital clues about molecular mechanisms of protective immunity and host-parasite interactions, as well as accelerate the development of an effective vaccine.

There are many aspects to our work:

• Leading research into the ethical issues inherit in these studies, for example informed consent, and data-sharing in low- and middle-income countries
• Working with our partner studies to support the necessary clinical research infrastructure to gather standardised samples from many thousands of individuals in several malaria-endemic countries in Africa
• Generating a large and unique data resource for case-control and family-based studies of genetic resistance and susceptibility to severe malaria
• Developing methods to overcome the unique challenges confronting multi-centre genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in Africa, for example higher levels of genetic diversity, ethnic diversity, and population structure in Africa than on other continents
• Supporting capacity building for genetic and genomic research amongst scientists in malaria-endemic countries.

This project began shortly after MalariaGEN was formed in 2005, and has greatly influenced our approach to collaborative science.