The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded a $1,303,086 Project Grant under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to the University of Maryland, Baltimore to conduct the "IMPACT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD MALARIA PREVENTION ON MALARIA RISK AT SCHOOL ENTRY (ERASE)" study. This longitudinal cohort study will evaluate the epidemiological impact of seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) and the RTS,S malaria vaccine on the burden of...
This Cooperative Agreement award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), provides $702,204 to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) to conduct research on complex malaria in India. The key products and services to be delivered include: A four-year community-based cohort study in three districts of Odisha, India to investigate factors supporting persistent malaria...
This Project Grant award from the National Institutes of Health's John E. Fogarty International Center (CFDA 93.989 - International Research and Research Training) provides $108,237 to Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Uganda to develop and assess the feasibility of a diagnostic tool for post-tuberculosis (TB) lung disease that can be deployed in primary healthcare settings with limited diagnostic resources. The key products and services to be delivered under this award include: 1)...
This federal Project Grant award from the Fogarty International Center (CFDA 93.989 - International Research and Research Training) provides $169,475 to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to implement and validate the safety, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness of a mobile health (mHealth) approach for providing postoperative care and follow-up for low-acuity surgical procedures in Uganda. The proposed "mHealth Ambulatory Surgery with Follow-up Nurse" (MAS-FUN) model aims to...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), is focused on the discovery and development of novel schistosomicidal (anti-schistosome) agents. The $600,000 award, with a period of performance from June 2024 to May 2025, will support research to optimize novel inhibitors of the schistosome enzyme thioredoxin glutathione reductase (TGR) for oral bioavailability, while...
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded a $615,891 project grant under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York to conduct a multidimensional and longitudinal immune profiling study of sepsis in Uganda. The goal is to establish pathobiologically-driven and therapeutically-relevant sepsis subtypes ("endotypes") in sub-Saharan Africa, a global hotspot for sepsis...
This Project Grant award from the Fogarty International Center (CFDA 93.989), a program of the National Institutes of Health, provides $174,753 to Yale University to establish a registry of patients with HIV and rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) in Uganda. The goal is to create a research and training platform to advance the understanding of the interplay between HIV and RMDs, which has been a significant but understudied challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. The project will leverage...
This $272,910 Project Grant, awarded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) under the Environmental Health (CFDA 93.113) program, aims to optimize the use of portable air cleaners (PACs) to reduce household particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure in Uganda. The key objectives are: Identify and optimize environmental factors that maximize PM reduction with PAC use in real-world low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings. Design and test an optimal power supply system...
This Project Grant award from the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center (CFDA 93.989 - International Research and Research Training) provides $174,687 to The Infectious Diseases Institute LIMITED (IDI) in Kampala, Uganda to investigate the long-term neurological outcomes of HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis. The key objectives are to: 1) Determine the prevalence of sustained neurocognitive impairment at 1 year among survivors of cryptococcal meningitis, and 2)...
This $800,624 five-year Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (CFDA 93.855 - Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research) aims to develop novel inhibitors targeting the enzyme thioredoxin glutathione reductase (TGR) for the treatment of schistosomiasis, a neglected parasitic disease affecting over 200 million people globally. The primary recipient, the University of Illinois, will lead efforts to optimize TGR inhibitors for potency, selectivity, and in...
UGANDA SCHISTOSOMIASIS MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH CENTRE (U-SMRC) - SUMMARY SCHISTOSOMIASIS IS A MAJOR NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASE, ESTIMATED TO AFFECT 240 MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE, LEADING TO LOSS OF A MINIMUM OF 1.9 MILLION DISABILITY-ADJUSTED LIFE YEARS (DALYS) ANNUALLY - 90% OF THIS BURDEN IN SUB- SAHARAN AFRICA. IN EAST AFRICA, UGANDA HAS A STRONG TRACK-RECORD OF SEMINAL STUDIES AND PARTNERSHIPS ON SCHISTOSOMIASIS RESEARCH. THE UGANDA SCHISTOSOMIASIS MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH CENTER (U-SMRC) WILL BUILD ON THIS SOLID FOUNDATION TO DEVELOP A VIBRANT, UGANDA-LED, UGANDA-BASED INTERNATIONAL SCHISTOSOMIASIS RESEARCH NETWORK THAT FOSTERS AFRICAN CAPACITY FOR TRANSFORMATIVE TROPICAL MEDICINE RESEARCH. UGANDA IS HIGHLY ENDEMIC FOR SCHISTOSOMA MANSONI (SM). INTESTINAL SCHISTOSOMIASIS IS UNIVERSAL IN MANY VILLAGES AROUND ITS GREAT LAKES AND THE RIVER NILE. THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH'S VECTOR CONTROL DIVISION (VCD), RESPONSIBLE FOR SCHISTOSOMIASIS CONTROL, HAS LONG BEEN CONCERNED BY THE HIGH RATES OF SEVERE SCHISTOSOMAL MORBIDITY IN THE NORTH-WESTERN LAKE ALBERT REGION (LA), COMPARED TO THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN LAKE VICTORIA REGION (LV), DESPITE COMPARABLE TRANSMISSION AND PROGRAMMES OF PRAZIQUANTEL MASS DRUG ADMINISTRATION. IN RESPONSE TO THIS CONCERN, THE U-SMRC'S CORE RESEARCH GOAL IS TO UNDERSTAND THE BIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF SEVERE SM- ASSOCIATED MORBIDITY AND TO IDENTIFY BETTER STRATEGIES FOR ITS PREVENTION AND CONTROL. WE HYPOTHESISE THAT KEY BIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF SEVERE SCHISTOSOMAL MORBIDITY OCCUR AT EACH STAGE OF THE PARASITE'S LIFE CYCLE: IN THE HUMAN HOST, IN THE PARASITE, AND IN THE SNAIL HOST AND ITS ENVIRONMENT. TO INVESTIGATE THIS HYPOTHESIS, WE WILL USE TWO STUDY DESIGNS: (I) COHORTS OF PRE-SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN (PSAC) IN LA AND LV, TO EXPLORE THE EARLY EVOLUTION OF IMMUNE RESPONSES THAT MAY LEAD TO SEVERE MORBIDITY AND (II) AN ADULT CASE CONTROL STUDY TO IDENTIFY CHRONIC EXPOSURES ASSOCIATED WITH SEVERE DISEASE. WE WILL ALSO COLLECT PARASITE AND SNAIL SAMPLES FROM BOTH SETTINGS, AND DEVELOP A SPECIMEN ARCHIVE FOR FUTURE STUDIES. OUR SPECIFIC AIMS WILL BE TO AIM 1. COMPARE EARLY-LIFE IMMUNE RESPONSES TO SM EXPOSURE AND INFECTION BETWEEN LA AND LV AND IDENTIFY CO-EXPOSURES THAT MODULATE SM-SPECIFIC IMMUNE RESPONSES AND MORBIDITY RISK AIM 2. ESTABLISH A PLATFORM FOR LOCAL GENETIC SURVEILLANCE OF SCHISTOSOME PARASITES IN UGANDA AND DETERMINE WHETHER THERE IS A PARASITE GENETIC BASIS TO DIFFERENCES IN CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN LA AND LV AIM 3. DETERMINE WHICH POPULATION BIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF BIOMPHALARIA SPP. SNAILS ACT AS LOCAL EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DRIVERS OF SM, FILTERING ITS DIVERSITY WITHIN AND BETWEEN LA AND LV ECOSYSTEMS; AND WHETHER DETECTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL (E)DNA SIGNATURES FROM BIOMPHALARIA AND SM CAN BE USED TO BETTER PREDICT SNAIL/PARASITE DIVERSITY AT TRANSMISSION SITES AND (RE)INFECTION RISK WITHIN KEY DEMOGRAPHIC GROUPS DATA FROM EACH AIM WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP A COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED MODEL OF THE DRIVERS OF SEVERE SM- ASSOCIATED MORBIDITY. THIS MODEL WILL BE FURTHER UTILISED TO EVALUATE LIKELY BENEFITS OF SELECTED INTERVENTIONS, AND TO GUIDE FUTURE POLICY ON PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT.