Novel serological and molecular tools for malaria surveillance and intervention

As malaria transmission continues to decline, even the most sensitive methods for determining prevalence via detection of the parasite become inefficient for risk stratification and informing programmatic interventions. In addition, the need to identify individuals at risk of Plasmodium vivax relapse from hypnozoites increases. This project will involve investigating the sensitivity and specificity of serological indicators of recent exposure to P. falciparum (Pf) and P. vivax (Pv) compared to ultra-sensitive PCR (usPCR) parasite prevalence indicators for surveillance using sample sets from longitudinal child cohort conducted in 2013 East Sepik Province Papua New Guinea (PNG). This would involve working with samples from 100 children from low-moderate transmission villages and samples from 100 children from the high transmission villages. You would learn how to perform ultra-sensitive Pf and Pv PCR assays and apply them to these samples to determine the children's malaria infection status using the most sensitive molecular diagnostic tool we have. You would also learn how to perform the multiplex serological assay (using Pf and Pv antigens) using the MAGPIX Luminex-based assay platform and apply this to selected timepoints. By applying novel validated serological markers of exposure and novel validated molecular markers capable of detecting ultra-low density Plasmodium infections to well characterised existing sample, we aim to validate and establish the public health utility of Pf and Pv molecular and sero-surveillance assays for identifying hidden reservoirs of infections in PNG.