General Summary

In a multicenter-project run by the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) and Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin including further clinical and research institutions in Rwanda and DR Congo, a total of 3,600 malaria patients will be recruited at nine sentinel sites and in two recruitment rounds. Mutations of the parasite Plasmodium falciparum predicting artemisinin resistance (K13 gene, MDR1 gene) will be genotyped. Alongside sample collection, patients will be interviewed, questionnaire-based, on potential determinants of emerging artemisinin resistance, including, among others, preferred health care procedures in case of sickness, sources of antimalarial drug consumption, herbal remedies, socio-economic status. The analysis of determinants of artemisinin resistance will be conducted for the whole sample population and stratified by country.

The student is invited to do their MSc thesis within the ARMEA project. Formal supervision at IDI will be provided by Emmanuel Mande, and additional laboratory training and supervision, as well as quality control will be provided by staff at CHUB, Rwanda. The student will be included in the international ARMEA consortium and is invited to attend a 2-week training in Rwanda. Continuous online mentoring is provided for education in molecular techniques and analysis from the team at CHUB, Rwanda, and at Charité, Germany.

Key Responsibilities

• Receiving, registering, and storing samples from Uganda (approx. 50% dried blood spots and 500% whole blood) at the IDI lab
• Milaria Microscopy on the samples
• Aliquoting of samples, if necessary
• DNA extraction from each sample
• PCR of three targets on all samples (K13, MDR1-reg1, MDR1-reg2)
• Gel electrophoresis of all amplicons
• Prepare sequencing plates of positive amplicons
• Assist with cryopreservation
• Sanger sequencing analysis
• Data management and analysis of molecular data

Academic Qualifications

A final year student pursuing Masters in Molecular Biology, Immunology

Person Specification

A student pursing a Masters in Molecular biology and Immunology in their final year

• Receiving, registering, and storing samples from Uganda (approx. 50% dried blood spots and 500% whole blood) at the IDI lab
• Milaria Microscopy on the samples
• Aliquoting of samples, if necessary
• DNA extraction from each sample
• PCR of three targets on all samples (K13, MDR1-reg1, MDR1-reg2)
• Gel electrophoresis of all amplicons
• Prepare sequencing plates of positive amplicons
• Assist with cryopreservation
• Sanger sequencing analysis
• Data management and analysis of molecular data

• Molecular Biology
• Immunology
• Malaria Microscopy
• DNA Extraction
• PCR
• Gel Electrophoresis
• Sanger Sequencing Analysis
• Data Management
• Data Analysis

• Masters in Molecular Biology, Immunology (final year student)