Université Cheikh Anta DIOP

Department of Parasitology

Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Odontology
Cheikh Anta DIOP University of Dakar
Website : https://www.ucad.sn/

1. The Parasitology-Mycology Department of the Faculty of Medicine at the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar

The University Cheikh Anta Diop is the first francophone University in West Africa. With its Faculty of Medicine which is the oldest faculty in Senegal, UCAD plays a key role in research and training in Africa. The Department of Parasitology (DP) located in the Faculty of Medicine has the mission to train students and health professionals in the field of malaria and other parasitic diseases and to strengthen the capacity of developing endemic countries to undertake high-quality research for parasitic disease control leading to elimination. The strong internal organization & leadership made it internationally recognized and facilitate its collaboration with existing top institutions or bodies in the areas of academic activities and clinical or epidemiological research on malaria & other parasitic diseases. It is the research reference centre of the Minister of Health for Malaria and other Parasitic Diseases and has proven successful operational research translated into national policies. The UCAD’s team is made up of senior researchers (parasitologists, epidemiologists, public health specialists, molecular biologists, entomologists, sociologists, economists, mathematicians, statisticians, and data managers).

Research activities

Research activities cover mainly parasitic diseases with a focus on Malaria and Neglected Tropical diseases (Schistosomiasis, Filariasis, Geohelminthiasis, Leishmaniasis, Mycetoma, and Toxoplasmosis) and human genetics.

Malaria

Research covers

• Interaction host-parasites by looking at the possible influence of chemoprevention and treatment strategies on genetic modification of Plasmodium species (drug resistance markers, genetic polymorphism) and antimalarial immunity development on vulnerable groups (children and pregnant women).
• Research on several strategies for malaria elimination, such as interventions aiming at interrupting transmission including mass screening and treatment, focal screening and treatment, seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), drug efficacy, and vaccine trials.

 Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)

Research cover

• The use of innovative delivery strategies during the Mass Drug Administration
• The use of innovative point-of-care diagnosis tools (Lamp and other molecular tools) for Soil Transmitted Helminth (STH) diagnosis.
• The DP is also looking at how public health control programs might affect schistosome and STH epidemiology and evolution in vulnerable groups (preschool-aged children and pregnant women).
• In the context of disease overlapping, the DP is also interested in the coinfection of Malaria-NTD and nutritional status in children.
• By conducting research on genetic and epigenetic modification associated with child stunting the DP is also interested in the effect of nutritional exposures, food and the home environment, microbiome, gut health, and parasites on key epigenetic states.

All these research activities are supported by existing community observatories for populations including Health and Demographic survey, which allow conducting cohort longitudinal studies measuring health interventions impact (economic, acceptability, pharmacovigilance, drug resistance, morbidity, and mortality) and social studies to better understand perceptions and behaviors of populations in front of major endemic diseases in general, malaria & NTDs in particular.

Training, Networking

The DP is involved in master’s and Ph.D. training within the Doctoral School with programs in many areas including epidemiology, immunology, modeling, implementation research, biology using and exploring new technologies such as Next-generation Sequencing, Luminex, qPCR, Bio-informatic and Biostatistics, genotyping, phenotyping.

The Department of Parasitology has an excellent record of post-graduate training, including active participation in several networks such as the Malaria Capacity Development Consortium and the Malaria Research and Capacity Development in West and Central Africa (MARCAD) supported by the DELTAS program; The DP hosts the center of Excellence AGIR (health and environment); it is leading the NTDs work package in the WANETAM network; the DP is member of the West African Global Health Alliance which is a training &research initiative

The Faculty of Medicine at UCAD also hosts the International Centre for Applied Genomics and Health Surveillance (CIGASS). CIGASS conducts research activities to enhance understanding of diseases and identify new tools and approaches for their surveillance and prevention. The centre is equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories and supported by collaborations with the Harvard School of Public Health; it has an excellent track record of successful biological capabilities, including extensive tissue culture, high-throughput drug screening, and specific locus genotyping capabilities including both real-time and high-resolution melt technologies, NGS and bead-based multiplex serology. CIGASS is a WHO reference center for confirming pfhrp2/3 gene deletion in suspected samples. Since 2021, the center hosts the Partnership for Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring in Africa (PARMA) in collaboration with the CDC and PMI and participates in the Master and PhD Training Center on Disease Surveillance particularly Malaria and other infectious through ACEGID (African Center of Excellence on Genomic for Infectious Diseases) network.

2. The Health Research and training centre in the north of Senegal

At the Health Research and Training centre in the north of Senegal, the DP is at the front of the related disease-related water issues and plays a key role in malaria and NTDS research for control and elimination. The Unit is well-equipped with a genomic platform and is involved in several NTDs research such as the Development of Point of Care diagnostic, diagnostic and treatment of female genital schistosomiasis, Evaluation of innovative techniques for the diagnosis of STH, Surveillance of efficacy and resistance of praziquantel during MDA.

Malaria elimination is a key research area in this part of the country; The DP is using innovative techniques such as the LAMP for the genomic surveillance of the plasmodium; Detection of Plasmodium vivax in the border region with Mauritania is an important research area addressed by the Unit.

3. The Health Research and training centre in Thies

At the Health Research and training centre in Thies located at the center of Senegal the DP focuses on all parasitic diseases. Several research projects on malaria (mass administration of anti-malarial drugs, studies of "hot spots", monitoring and evaluation of chemoprevention of seasonal malaria and intermittent preventive treatment in pregnant women, etc.) and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are ongoing, namely mapping the prevalence of malaria-helminthiasis co-infections in a West African pediatric population and the feasibility of an integrated chemoprevention platform against NTDs.

In the Thies centre, the DP is involved in monitoring the safety of antimalarial drugs as part of a national pharmacovigilance system with active follow-up and cohort event monitoring.

In addition, a mathematical modeling programme applied to malaria and NTDs is already hosting Ph.D. students and post-docs within a consortium of 5 countries in West Africa with an aim to strengthen capacities in modeling and operationalize malaria and NTD modeling for the benefit of the National Control Programmes

The laboratory is well equipped with a Genomic platform, Luminex MagPix machine for assessing the impact of interventions with drugs and characterizing residual foci of transmission.

4. The Laboratoire d’Ecologie Vectorielle et Parasitaire at the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, University Cheikh Anta Diop

At UCAD the Laboratoire d’Ecologie Vectorielle et Parasitaire (LEVP) located at the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques provides training and technical support in the areas of Entomological Surveillance and the Monitoring & Evaluation of Vector Control Interventions.). The LEVP is the NMCP Entomological National Reference Unit (NRU); its overall goal is to provide comprehensive data to guide targeted vector control interventions.

The LEVP research theme encompasses various aspects of vector ecology, population genetics and genomics, evolution and applied consequences of insecticide resistance, , Evaluation of entomological parameters of residual malaria transmission, Mosquito microbiome, Vector control products evaluation, Contribution of Social Sciences in vector control. The LEVP has research infrastructures, including entomological surveillance sentinel sites. The LEVP is well equipped with state-of-the-art entomological laboratories including a genomic platform and insectarium.