Multidisciplinary Parasitology & Vector Biology Program
International Research
A unique aspect of the Multidisciplinary Parasitology and Vector Biology Training Program has been/is the opportunities for fellows and graduate students to work with scientists from endemic countries and receive (as appropriate fro their thesis/research work) training overseas. This is supported through programs of individual faculty members and also through the Downs International Fellowship Program. The Downs International Fellowship Program supports Yale students who undertake research in developing countries. The Program was initiated by and honors Wilbur G. Downs (1913–1991), M.D., M.P.H., Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health and renowned physician/scientist in the fields of tropical medicine and infectious disease.
Faculty members have international collaborations and research projects in endemic areas throughout the world (Africa, South America, Asia).
Dr. Karen Anderson is collaborating with Professor Yongyuth Yuthavong (BIOTEC Central Research Unit, National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology) in Thailand in an effort to discover new antimalarial drugs using the Plasmodium falciparum bifunctional thymidylate synthase dihydrofolate reductase as a molecular target. She is also collaborating with Professor Roger Hunter in South Africa on the development of new HIV drugs.
Dr. Aksoy has ongoing research collaborations with the Livestock Health Research Institute, Tororo, Uganda on population genetics of tsetse flies and symbiotic infection prevalence in field populations. She is also working with Trypanosomiasis Research Centre, Kenya to train African scientists in the area of tsetse vector biology, functional genomics, population genetics and bioinformatics. Dr. Aksoy is a working with the South African National Bioinformatics Institute in Capetown, South Africa. In addition, the Li Foundation supports the training in her laboratory of graduate students from the Fudan University in China in vector biology, invertebrate immunity and host–pathogen interactions. She is also collaborating with Dr. McMahon–Pratt on a Fogarty Training Program with scientists in Colombia.
Dr. Bucala presently directs a genetic epidemiology study in Zambia (Macha Hospital and University of Lusaka) that is examining the role of low and high expression MIF alleles in severe malarial disease. Notably, low expression MIF alleles are strongly over–represented in Zambian tribes. Dr. Bucala collaborates in this effort with Dr. Phil Thuma (Macha Malaria Research Institute, and Dr. James Chipeta (University of Lusaka). This research is coordinated with laboratory–based studies of malaria that include an examination of MIF's role in the immunologic response to parasitic infection using murine models of infection. Dr. Bucala also collaborates with scientists who have other malarial research programs in Africa, namely: in Kenya and Malawi.
Dr. Caccone is collaborating with researchers on the evolutionary genetics of mosquitoes from the Anopheles gambiae complex. She is working with Frederick Simard (Laboratorire de l’Institut de Recherche pour le Development) in Yaounde', Cameroon, N'Fale' Sagnon (Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme) and Carlo Costantini ( Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)) in Burkina Faso.
Dr. Cappello has recently initiated international field based collaborative studies with colleagues in Latin America (Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala) and Africa (Ghana), where they are working to define the species distribution and immunoepidemiology of soil transmitted nematode infections. In Latin America, his group has defined novel immunoreactive antigens that may distinguish between Ancylostoma and Necator hookworms in endemic communities. In Ghana, Dr. Cappello is working with colleagues at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Accra on evaluating the effect of treatment regimens for soil transmitted nematode infections on child health and development.
Dr. Munstermann has collaborative projects (Colombia, Peru, French Guiana) focused on a group of 28 related species of sand fly, the Verrucarum group, that is broadly distributed in Central and South America and are important vectors of cutaneous leishmaniasis and bartonellosis. Primary objectives are to use genetic tools to investigate evolutionary divergence, and phylogenetic relationships.
Dr. McMahon–Pratt collaborates with scientists in Spain (an endemic country for visceral leishmaniasis) on vaccine studies directed toward the development of a vaccine in canine reservoir host. As Director of an NIH ICIDR Program, she is involved in this ICIDR in collaborative studies [Drs. Saravia (CIDEIM, Colombia) and Dr. Bucala] of the immune and inflammatory responses to infection by Leishmania (Viannia) parasites. In addition, a Fogarty Training Program supports the training of Colombian scientists working on molecular aspects of Leishmania–host interactions (vector and host).
Correspondence & Information
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
Yale University School of Medicine
60 College Street, LEPH 711
P.O. Box 208034
New Haven, Connecticut 06520–8034
United States
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