MSMT - Genome-wide analysis of variations in Plasmodium falciparum parasites population and their impact on different malaria interventions in Tanzania

Malaria affects millions of people globally, and the disease remains one of the major public health problems occurring in most parts of the world, causing thousands of deaths each year, especially among vulnerable persons in rural settings with poor health systems. Even though the burden has decreased due to the deployment of different interventions in recent years, all those gains are threatened by biological threats that largely affect the success of different control strategies. The parasite uses different mechanisms that render diagnostic tools and drug treatment inefficient, challenging one of the key control strategies, based on prompt detection and case management. Sequencing technologies, especially Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) have played a major role in understanding parasite genomic variation leading to drug resistance, diagnostic resistance, and population structure.In this project, we will develop a long-read WGS based on ONT to sequence P. falciparum genome using culture strains with known drug resistance, hrp2/3, and diversity profile.