Malaria vaccine research and capacity building in Ghana

Thematic Areas:

Health

project summary

The applicants have previously collaborated successfully on malaria vaccine development, and have characterised a field site area prioritised by Ghana Health Services. This project builds on these strengths, and will focus on research and capacity building underpinning the development of new malaria vaccines targeting the asexual blood-stage P. falciparum parasites that cause all the clinical symptoms of the most severe type of malaria in humans. In four Ph.D. study programs we will conduct laboratory and pre-clinical research on highly promising vaccine candidate antigens. Specifically, we will study PfEMP1 variants implicated in the pathogenesis of the most life-threatening malaria complications. In addition we will study two parasite antigens (PfRh5 and PfRON2), necessary for parasite invasion of erythrocytes, and known to be targets of immune responses that can interrupt parasite multiplication. The Ph.D. students will have access to clinically very carefully characterized malaria patients in an area where the intensity of transmission is sufficient to make the studies proposed feasible. Furthermore, all the Ph.D. programs will benefit from renowned international collaborating experts, and be closely supervised thanks to an integrated institutional exchange program for senior scientists. We are confident that this will ensure both cutting-edge collaborative malaria vaccine development research and genuine and sustainable capacity building.

Facts

PERIOD: 31 December 2012 to 1 April 2018
PROJECT CODE: 12-081RH
COUNTRIES: Ghana
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Lars Hviid
TOTAL GRANT: 10,093,881 DKK