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Snail-Related Studies of Transmission & Control of Schistosomiasis in Kenya

Award Number: R37AI101438
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 05/15/2012
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 04/30/2027

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Snail-Related Studies of Transmission & Control of Schistosomiasis in Kenya - Sc histosomiasis is one of the world's most common neglected tropical diseases, currently infecting over 200 million people, with 90% of cases occurring in tropical Africa. The involvement of freshwater snails as vectors imparts considerable stability to the schistosome life cycle because snails support the prolific production by asexual reproduction of cercariae, the infective stage of the parasite for people. Efforts thus far to control schistosomes in snails have had but limited success. Our work's overall goal is to identify innovative new ways to interrupt the development and transmission of Schistosoma mansoni in its obligatory Biomphalaria snail hosts, especially in the context of the Lake Victoria basin. Rather than to attempt to suppress large snail populations across broad endemic areas, our approach is to find specific ways to target infected snails and the larval stages of schistosomes living within them . Our field studies also constantly remind us of the impact a warming c limate may have on vector snails and the schistosomes developing within them. Building on both lab- and field-based discoveries made in our ongoing funding period, we propose the following new aims: Aim 1. We seek to learn if immune responses we have shown to be relevant to resistance in a lab model, the Neotropical snail B. glabrata and S. mansoni, are also at play in African Biomphalaria taxa in western Kenya. The transcriptomics and other studies we propose will identify novel characteristics of the responses of African snails to schistosome infection and how snail responses to S. mansoni might be affected by warming c limates. Aim 2. We aim to characterize the means whereby larval trematodes, especially ubiquitously common cattle-transmitted amphistomes, suppress and supplant the development of S. mansoni sporocysts in African Biomphalaria taxa . We will use a combination of in vivo and in vitro approaches coupled with transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics techniques to address this issue. Aim 3. We hypothesize that shore-dwelling B. sudanica suffers constant exposure to many different trematode species, including S. mansoni, and have developed a generalist immune strategy featuring tolerance to minimize trematode impact. In contrast, a close relative, B. choanomphala, lives in a deepwater refugium from infection, and we predict will show diminished immune responsiveness and lack of tolerance responses upon challenge with trematodes. Our aims all seek to characterize novel ways to interfere with the development of schistosome larval development in snai ls, build a two-way bridge between lab and field studies and will enable us to continue a 30+ year collaboration between biologists at UNM and the Kenya Medical Research Institute, emphasizing training of young scientists in medical malacology. RELEVANCE (See instructions): Schistosomiasis is one of the world's most common neglected tropical diseases. Its resilience is partly due to the reliance of schistosome parasites on freshwater snail vectors that support the production of prolific numbers of human-infective cercariae. We propose to explo it immune resistance mechanisms in snails and the means whereby competing larval trematodes interfere with larval schistosomes in snails to develop needed new means to control transmission of schistosome parasites to people in sub-Saharan Africa. P ROJ EC / P E R FO R M AN C E SI T E(S) (if ad ditional space is need ed , use ProjecU Performance Site Format


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $351,112 )
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87131	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	002	13	4/24/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$351,112
2024	2022	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87131	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	001	11	4/3/2024	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$11,435
2024	2021	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87131	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	10	4/3/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$11,435
														Subtotal = $351,112

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $351,202 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, THE	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	12	3/22/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$351,202
														Subtotal = $351,202

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $364,162 )
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, THE	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	11	4/19/2022	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$364,162
														Subtotal = $364,162

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $360,184 )
2021	2021	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, THE	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE STE 2200	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	10	3/18/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$360,184
														Subtotal = $360,184

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $360,184 )
2020	2020	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	9	3/17/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$360,184
														Subtotal = $360,184

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $360,184 )
2019	2019	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	8	4/3/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$360,184
														Subtotal = $360,184

Issue Date FY: 2018 ( Subtotal = $360,184 )
2018	2018	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	7	3/14/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$360,184
														Subtotal = $360,184

Issue Date FY: 2017 ( Subtotal = $668,012 )
2017	2017	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	001	6	8/2/2017	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$219,265
2017	2017	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	002	6	8/21/2017	COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$19,996
2017	2017	UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO	1700 LOMAS BLVD NE	ALBUQUERQUE	NM	87106	BERNALILLO	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	6	1/17/2017	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$468,743
														Subtotal = $668,012

Grand Total All Awards = $3,175,224

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Snail-Related Studies of Transmission & Control of Schistosomiasis in Kenya

Award Number: R37AI101438

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 05/15/2012

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 04/30/2027

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