Dr. Irene Molina de la Fuente, a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Malariology Unit, University of Antwerp in Belgium, has paid a courtesy visit to the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Finance and Administration, at Mountains of the Moon University (MMU), Associate Professor Kagambe Edmond.
Dr. Molina de la Fuente, who works under the Malariology Unit headed by Prof. Anna Rosanas-Urgell, was escorted to the meeting by Prof. John Rubaihayo of MMU’s Public Health department. She is currently visiting MMU for two weeks, from 28th July to 7th August, in connection with an ongoing malaria research collaboration.
The visit falls under a wider partnership involving four institutions: the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) at the University of Antwerp, Mountains of the Moon University, Charité – University of Berlin, and the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) at Makerere University. The quadruple collaboration brings together several research projects aimed at understanding the emergence, spread, and mechanisms of resistance to Artemisinin based Combination Therapy (ACT) in East Africa, one of which is Dr. Molina de la Fuente’s own FWO-funded postdoctoral project.
Explaining her research during the visit, Dr. Molina de la Fuente said the project aims to identify and characterise the molecular mediators of resistance to artemisinin (ART) and lumefantrine (LF) in Plasmodium falciparum isolates from Uganda, by examining the genetic and transcriptional profiles linked to reduced drug susceptibility, altered parasite growth, and transmission potential.
The work will proceed in three stages: first, characterising the phenotype profile of Ugandan P. falciparum isolates in terms of drug susceptibility, growth rate, and transmission potential through ex vivo assays; second, confirming these findings using in vitro assays; and third, carrying out genomic and transcriptome characterisation to establish associations between genotype and phenotype.
She noted that the project is expected to generate new knowledge on how P. falciparum adapts and develops resistance to ART and LF in both Uganda and Rwanda, while offering key insights to guide antimalarial resistance surveillance across Africa. Among the anticipated academic breakthroughs are the identification of genetic markers driving ART and LF resistance in Africa, an analysis of how these markers affect parasite susceptibility to antimalarial drugs as well as parasite fitness, a full characterisation of the genetic background of P. falciparum isolates from Uganda at both genome and transcriptome level, and the design of a workflow for exploring resistance markers in malaria-endemic countries.