Strategic alliance for Typhoid in Africa and Asia (STRATAA)
Dunstan group
Project leader(s): Dr Sarah Dunstan
Collaborator(s): International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangaldesh; University of Oxford, UK; Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Program, Blantyre, Malawi; Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Patan Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal
Run throughout Malawi, Bangladesh and Nepal, the overall aim of the Strategic Alliance for Typhoid in Africa and Asia (STRATAA) is to provide the science to underpin the implementation of new vaccines for the control of enteric fever, uniquely, in different epidemiological settings in Africa and Asia. This will include (among other things); providing missing data on disease burden, antibiotic resistance and transmission needed to support and implement conjugate vaccines for enteric fever, establishing the host factors that determine susceptibility to enteric fever to inform vaccine implementation strategies, strengthen research capacity in enteric fever endemic regions of the world and provide the data for vaccine implementation advocacy. STRATAA is funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Typhoid Vaccine Acceleration Consortium (TyVAC) - host genomics of immunogenicity substudy
Dunstan group
Project leader(s): Dr Sarah Dunstan
Collaborator(s): Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Patan Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal; International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangaldesh; University of Oxford, UK
TyVAC is assessing the impact of a Vi-Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine in preventing typhoid infection among Nepalese and Bangladeshi children. In collaboration with Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Kathmandu, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh and Oxford University UK, we are investigating the human genomics of vaccine response
Genomics to inform tuberculosis elimination strategies
Dunstan group
Project leader(s): Dr Sarah Dunstan
Collaborator(s): Birat Nepal Medical Trust, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Funding: National Health and Medical Research Council
In 2017, 10 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) and just over three people died every minute. In high burden, resource poor countries, disease diagnosis can be slow, treatment is long, stopping spread is difficult, and the current vaccine is poorly effective. New tools to combat this global infectious disease epidemic are urgently required. This research will use cutting-edge genomic technologies to provide critical knowledge and the momentum needed for improved tools for TB control. This research is in collaboration with Birat Nepal Medical Trust in Kathmandu, Nepal and is funded by the NHMRC
Molecular networks and genomics of host response in typhoid fever
Dunstan group
Project leader(s): Dr Sarah Dunstan
Collaborator(s): Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Patan Hospital, Kathmandu
Funding: National Health and Medical Research Council
Typhoid fever affects 25 million people annually and is caused by systemic infection with Salmonella Typhi or Paratyphi. With this proposal, we will characterise how different individuals respond differently to typhoid, what ramifications this has for systemic Salmonella infection in humans, and how typhoid can be clinically identified early on, thus giving the patient the best possible chance to avoid complications, injury and potential death. This research is in collaboration with Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Nepal, the STRATAA consortium, the Baker Institute and Monash University Australia.
Influenza surveillance workshop
Project leader(s): Naomi Komadina
Collaborator(s): GISAID Bioinformatics Training
Workshop for scientists working in influenza surveillance, as part of the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific Region National Influenza Centre meeting
The Fleming Fund Fellowship Program
Project leader(s): Professor Benjamin Howden, Professor Kirsty Buising
Collaborator(s): Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne; Asia Pacific Centre for Animal Health and Australian Animal Health Laboratory, CSIRO
Funding: The Fleming Fund
The Fleming Fund Fellowships offer a program of on-the-job training, mentoring and professional development to improve the capability and capacity of in-country institutions and staff to respond to the threat of antimicrobial resistance across human and animal health. The Doherty Institute is currently running programs in Bhutan, Nepal and Timor-Leste.