Tackling the threats of invasive Anopheles stephensi and artemisinin resistance (RESILIENCE)

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Victoria Ingham
• Subject Area: Parasitology and Biology of Tropical Infectious Disease Pathogens ; General Genetics and Functional Genome Biology ; Clinical Infectiology and Tropical Medicine
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 570118771

After a decade of considerable success in malaria control, new biological threats have emerged that could undermine these efforts and introduce malaria to previously unaffected populations. In the Horn of Africa, an invasive malaria vector, Anopheles stephensi, recently emerged, likely contributing to large, lethal outbreaks in urban settings that were previously malaria free. Moreover, Plasmodium falciparum parasites with partial resistance to the cornerstone antimalarial, artemisinin, recently emerged in the region, threatening treatment efficacy. The rate at which these resistant parasites spread depends on their competency to infect and transmit from the local vectors and their ability to survive in competition with other endemic P. falciparum parasites in a changing landscape of increasing urbanisation and global warming. In RESILIENCE, we will determine the transmission competency of invasive An. stephensi mosquitoes, and gain a broader understanding of their biology, including their resistance to insecticides, behaviour and strategies to survive in a warming climate. In addition, we will determine the implications of mutations causative for artemisinin resistance on the fitness of malaria parasites, their ability to survive treatment, counteract clonal competition in human and mosquito stages and their transmission competency in local and invasive mosquitoes. The data generated in this proposal will lead to a greater understanding of ways to control this invasive mosquito vector and lead to more complete insight into the clonal spread of artemisinin resistant parasites; both of which threaten to derail malaria control in Eastern Africa.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Netherlands
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Jan Teun Bousema