Training and Collaboration Awards outcomes 2020
In June 2020, the network launched a call for DAC-list PhD students and UK and DAC-list early career researchers to apply for up to £10,000 to undertake online training, collaboration, transfer of knowledge, skills and techniques, or to participate in online courses or workshops. These awards are a revision of the technology/exchange visits awards which the network has offered over the past two years, and became unavailable due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Following a competitive application process, the ANTI-VeC Network Executive Committee awarded 5 grants. More information about each of these projects is below:
Investigating the effects of co-infection of Wolbachia and the entomopathogenic fungus Metharhizium pingshaense in Aedes aegypti larvae.
Title: Investigating the effects of co-infection of Wolbachia and the entomopathogenic fungus Metharhizium pingshaense in Aedes aegypti larvae.
Awardee: Jacques Gnambani, Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante (IRSS), Burkina Faso
Project Summary:
Collaborating with University of Glasgow, IRSS/Centre Muraz PhD student Mr Jacques Gnambani will be undertaking virtual training with University of Glasgow's Prof Steve Sinkins and Dr Maria Vittoria Mancini. Mr Gnambani will be trained on how to maintain Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti strains in the insectary, and on Wolbachia detection and quantification within lab strains of Aedes aegypti using RT-qPCR and Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH).
Award Value: £8,400
Study to sample Anopheles mosquito populations along a stratified grid system across Uganda and Kenya’s landscape...
Title: Study to sample Anopheles mosquito populations along a stratified grid system across Uganda and Kenya’s landscape, enabling an inclusive sampling of at least 3 ecological zones in Uganda compared to coastal Kenya; and use of high-throughput sequencing methods to screen for bacterial endosymbionts that are most commonly found in insects.
Awardee: Agapitus Kato, Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), Uganda
Project Summary:
Collaborating with Icipe in Kenya, UVRI early career researcher Dr Agapitus Kato will be undertaking a short project with Icipe's Jeremy Herren studying malaria mosquito species' composition in four sites along a stratified grid across Uganda’s ecological landscape in one season in order to compare these findings with those from coastal Kenya. Dr Kato will use high-throughput sequencing methods to determine and compare the diversity of microbial communities among these ecological zones, providing preliminary data for malaria vectors endosymbiont-based research projects in Uganda, Kenya and beyond.
Award Value: £6,599
Investigation of a potential protective effect for the Anopheles symbiont Microsporidia MB against Metarhizium anisophilae
Title: Investigation of a potential protective effect for the Anopheles symbiont Microsporidia MB against Metarhizium anisophilae.
Awardee: Edward Makhulu, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Kenya
Project Summary:
Collaborating with University of Glasgow and IRSS in Burkina Faso, research assistant Mr Edward Makhulu will be undertaking a short project with Prof Steve Sinkins (Glasgow), Prof Abdoulaye Diabate and Dr Etienne Bilgo (both from IRSS) studying whether Microsporidia MB protects mosquitoes from the entomopathogenic fungi, M. anisophilae, exploring how co-infection of entomopathogenic fungi and Microsporidia MB affect the mosquito survivability and Microsporidia MB density.
Award Value: £10,000
Investigating the presence and sexual autodissemination within Anopheles mosquitoes of the malaria parasite transmission blocking Microsporidia MB.
Title: Investigating the presence and sexual autodissemination within Anopheles mosquitoes of the malaria parasite transmission blocking Microsporidia MB in Burkina Faso (West Africa).
Awardee: Abel Millogo, Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante (IRSS), Burkina Faso
Project Summary:
Collaborating with Icipe in Kenya, PhD student Mr Abel Millogo will be undertaking virtual training with Icipe's Dr Jeremy Herren on molecular detection and quantification of local strains of Microsporidia MB in Anopheles field population through PCR and qPCR, and on Bioinformatic and phylogenetic analysis of the 18S ribosomal gene of Microsporidia MB.
Award Value: £8,475
Training to set up a web application to obtain real-time analysis of mosquito infrared spectra through machine learning.
Title: Training to set up a web application to obtain real-time analysis of mosquito infrared spectra through machine learning.
Awardee: Roger Sanou, Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante (IRSS), Burkina Faso
Project Summary:
Collaborating with University of Glasgow, PhD student Mr Roger Sanou will be undertaking virtual training with University of Glasgow's Simon Babayan, Simon Rogers and Francesco Baldini on machine learning and website development. The knowledge gained as a result of the training will be used by Mr Sanou to develop a website for the vector surveillance of mosquitoes, which will help predict mosquitoes' age, species and other traits.
Award Value: £7,390