Download Research in the Faculty of Infectious and Tropical

Research in the Faculty of Infectious
and Tropical Diseases (ITD)
Dr Sam Alsford
Department Research Degrees Coordinator (DRDC)
Improving health worldwide
www.lshtm.ac.uk
The Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases
The Faculty comprises 4 Departments (~380 staff)
Clinical Research Department
Philippe Mayaud
Disease Control Department
Joanna Schellenberg
Immunology and Infection Department
Colin Sutherland
Pathogen Molecular Biology Department
David Conway
The Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases
Multi-disciplinary Approach to Answering Research Questions
Pathogens
• 
Laboratory sciences
– 
– 
– 
– 
• 
Disease
Molecular and cell biology
Genetics
Immunology
Biochemistry/drug
discovery
Clinical studies
–  Epidemiology
–  Immunology
–  Clinical trials
• 
Vector biology
• 
Disease Control
Transmission
From high tech….
•  Category 3 laboratories for handling serious
pathogens
•  Imaging suite including confocal microscopy
and in vivo imaging
•  Genome Resource Facility, DNA sequencing
and bioinformatics
Genome resource facility
RT imaging of experimental Chagas disease
Testing novel antimicrobials in real time
0
3h
9h
24h
48h
Disability & Eye Health Group
The Portable Eye
Examination Kit
Examine
Geo-locate
Treat
The IDEAS project
(Informed DEcisions for ActionS in maternal and newborn health)
2010–2016
FundedbyBill&MelindaGatesFounda=on
Usingmeasurement,learningandevalua0onfor
maternalandnewbornhealthprogrammesin:
U7arPradesh,
India
Ethiopia
Northeast
Nigeria
Mul0disciplinaryteam:
•  economics
•  epidemiology
•  sta=s=cs
•  poli=calscience
•  datamanagement
•  communica=ons
Recent research – molecular parasitology
Holistic approach for genome-wide functional screening
in Africa trypanosomes
Drug efficacy determinants & resistance mechanisms
identified for all 5 drugs currently used to treat African
sleeping sickness
Recent research – molecular immunology
Salmonella infection is a common and often fatal complication
of malaria.
Normally in malaria, induction of heme oxygenase-1 mediates
tolerance to the cytotoxic effects of heme following lysis of
red blood cells
This anti-malaria response impairs resistance to Salmonella by
limiting the production of reactive oxygen species that normally
kill the bacteria.
Thus, a mechanism of tolerance to malaria impairs resistance to
Salmonella infection – explaining the reason for the fatal
complication
Recent research – HT drug screening
High-throughput screening of test compounds
against parasitic schistosome worms
Capacity >500,000 compounds/year
Recent research – clinical trials
Testing a new meningitis vaccine during a serogroup A
meningococcal meningitis epidemic in Chad
1·8 million individuals received one dose of the
vaccine
The result – close to full protection
Recent research – clinical trials
Testing a new malaria vaccine in under twos at multiple
sites in sub-Saharan Africa
15,439 children were enrolled and followed up for 48 months
The result – significant reduction in cases of severe malaria
Bloomsbury Research Institute
- a new joint research facility
“Working together, we will
apply basic science to
discover new treatments
and tools for the
prevention and control of
disease through better
understanding of
pathogens and the
dynamics of infectious
diseases in global
populations.”
Immunology
Parasitology
Drugs/Vaccines
Virology
Bacteriology
Diagnostics/Biomarkers
More information on the ITD web pages
Genomics
CREATE
Malaria Centre
IDEAS
Sanitation & Hygiene Research for Equity
African Meningococcal Carriage Consortium
Bloomsbury Research Institute
Dean of Faculty
grf.lshtm.ac.uk/
www.tbhiv-create.org
www.lshtm.ac.uk/malaria
ideas.lshtm.ac.uk/
www.shareresearch.org/
www.menafricar.org/
www.bloomsburyresearch.org.uk/
[email protected]
Heads of Department
Pathogen Molecular Biology:
Immunology and Infection:
Disease Control:
Clinical Research:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]