The impact of seasonality and vector control on the population structure of Plasmodium falciparum

Objectives

This project aims to define the population structure of P. falciparum in the context of var gene diversity and explore epidemiological dynamics in this framework.

1. An individual-based, stochastic modelling framework that couples within and between-host transmission and describes the individual-host immunological history of exposure to different var gene repertoires to explore strain dynamics of P. falciparum in relation to age, seasonality and vector intervention.

2. For the first time in Malaria Epidemiology Research, the longitudinal seasonal sampling of entire asymptomatic P. falciparum populations in human communities using deep 454 sequencing of var genes. 

3. The quantitative description of var gene diversity and of var repertoires in wet and dry seasons, as well as across a major vector control Intervention using indoor residual spraying (IRS), in comparison to microsatellite diversity.

Through these objectives, the following questions will be addressed: strain structure despite extensive recombination and driven by immune selection, and competitive interactions between parasites for hosts in the transmission dynamics. In turn, the research team will also ask how this structure and associated parasite diversity influences transmission dynamics.