Using parasite and vector serosurveillance to inform malaria elimination

Malaria is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Asia-Pacific region. Efforts to eliminate malaria are constrained by a lack of highly sensitive surveillance tools to accurately detect malaria transmission throughout the population. Serosurveillance is a strategy for monitoring malaria exposure and transmission by measuring the host antibody response to pathogen exposure. This project with focus on identification and evaluation of antibody responses to both parasite (malaria causing Plasmodium spp.) and vector (malaria transmitting Anopheles spp. mosquitoes) candidate biomarkers to monitor ongoing transmission of malaria and efficacy of malaria interventions. Students will quantify host antibody dynamics following mosquito exposure and malaria infection to identify parasite and vector serosurveillance candidate biomarkers. The project will combine laboratory-based research, including immunoassays (e.g. ELISA) and molecular techniques (e.g. quantitative PCR) in large cohort studies conducted in malaria endemic populations, with statistical analyses. Specific techniques could be tailored to the students interests and educational background.