Wednesday, April 2, 2025
4/2/2025
Training and Research on Severe Malarial Anemia - PROJECT SUMMARY This proposal is the fourth renewal of our continuously funded Global Infectious Disease training grant that established the International Malaria Training and Research Program (IMTRP) in 2002 (PD/PI, D. Perkins). While a central theme of our research training platform has focused on severe childhood malaria, the IMTRP has progressively expanded to include additional leading infectious diseases in Kenya. Our training approach utilizes advanced scientific instruction in thematic core areas with general principles that can be applied to combat a multitude of infectious diseases. This strategy offers advantages for creating long-term capacity building to address the challenges presented by both ongoing and newly emerging high-burden infectious diseases. Based on current and future needs identified by our Kenyan partners, we propose advanced research training in: (1) Host-Pathogen Dynamics, (2) Therapeutic Discovery, and (3) Disease Modeling. Training will be provided to address the ongoing challenges of malaria and the emergent crisis due to COVID-19. The next phase of our activities will continue long-standing international partnerships between the University of New Mexico (UNM), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP, Ghana), along with a new partner, Kirinyaga University (KyU). During the current funding cycle, trainees were highly prolific in generating peer-reviewed manuscripts (32) and presenting at international meetings (61). Moving forward, we propose long-term training (12 months) in Kenya for junior faculty at our partner institutions, along with postdoctoral fellows, and doctoral students (4 per year in each category). The IMTRP has created a highly successful pipeline of diverse trainees to continue in these career development tracks towards independent investigator status. A competitively awarded re-entry grant will be provided each year to support junior faculty in this important transition. We also propose medium-term training for specialized mentoring in advanced methodologies (technical and data analytic) for 3-4 trainees per year (6 months) in the US (UNM and/or LANL) and for 2 trainees per year (2-3 months) at WACCBIP. Short-term, in-depth training (2- 3 days) will also be offered annually on specialized research methodologies in the thematic three training areas and requisite research competencies. The overall training paradigm will foster sustained establishment of independent researchers in Kenya. Expansion of our highly successful training program in the next phase is based on over $50M in annual funding for the multidisciplinary team assembled. The training platform will provide transfer of technology and expertise to address the challenges of malaria, COVID-19, and other high- burden infectious diseases in Kenya. Collectively, the overall approach will promote long-term capacity-building and sustainability by establishing a critical mass of Kenyan scientists with the knowledge and skill sets necessary to address the public health challenges facing their society.
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