Establishing African genomics and bioinformatics programs through annual regional workshops.

The African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP) Open Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics aims to overcome barriers to capacity building through its distributed African regional workshops and prioritizes the exchange of grassroots knowledge and innovation in biodiversity genomics and bioinformatics. In 2023, we implemented 28 workshops on biodiversity genomics and bioinformatics, covering 11 African countries across the 5 African geographical regions. These regional workshops trained 408 African scientists in hands-on molecular biology, genomics and bioinformatics techniques as well as the ethical, legal and social issues associated with acquiring genetic resources.

The interconnected global emergencies of climate change, food security and health: a call to action by the Science for Africa Foundation.

The evidence is clear that climate change is the greatest challenge facing mankind today. Africa is disproportionately burdened by multiple direct and cascading impacts of the climate crisis. Global investments for climate change adaptation, however, have not prioritized Africa adequately and there is a significant knowledge gap in understanding the context and science of climate change and sustainable solutions for the continent's adaptation.

Acquired Clinical Immunity to Malaria in Nonhuman Primates Coinfected with and Parasites.

Naturally acquired immunity to malaria develops over several years and can be compromised by concomitant infections. This study explored the influence of chronic schistosomiasis on clinical outcome and immunity to repeated malaria infection. Two groups of baboons ( = 8 each), were infected with Schistosoma mansoni cercariae to establish chronic infections.

Research priorities in maternal and neonatal health in Africa: results using the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative method involving over 900 experts across the continent.

Africa will miss the maternal and neonatal health (MNH) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets if the current trajectory is followed. The African Academy of Sciences has formed an expert maternal and newborn health group to discuss actions to improve MNH SDG targets. The team, among other recommendations, chose to implement an MNH research prioritization exercise for Africa covering four grand challenge areas.

Circulating Anodic Antigen (CAA): A Highly Sensitive Diagnostic Biomarker to Detect Active Infections-Improvement and Use during SCORE.

The Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation (SCORE) was funded in 2008 to conduct research that would support country schistosomiasis control programs. As schistosomiasis prevalence decreases in many places and elimination is increasingly within reach, a sensitive and specific test to detect infection with and has become a pressing need. After obtaining broad input, SCORE supported Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) to modify the serum-based antigen assay for use with urine, simplify the assay, and improve its sensitivity.

An open toolkit for tracking open science partnership implementation and impact.

Serious concerns about the way research is organized collectively are increasingly being raised. They include the escalating costs of research and lower research productivity, low public trust in researchers to report the truth, lack of diversity, poor community engagement, ethical concerns over research practices, and irreproducibility. Open science (OS) collaborations comprise of a set of practices including open access publication, open data sharing and the absence of restrictive intellectual property rights with which institutions, firms, governments and communities are experimenting in order to overcome these concerns.

Micro Array-Assisted Analysis of Anti-Schistosome Glycan Antibodies Elicited by Protective Vaccination With Irradiated Cercariae.

Baboons vaccinated with radiation-attenuated cercariae develop high levels of protection against schistosome infection, correlating to high antibody titres towards schistosome antigens with unknown molecular identity. Using a microarray consisting of glycans isolated from different life-stages of schistosomes, we studied the anti-glycan immunoglobulin (Ig) G and IgM responses in vaccinated and challenged baboons over a time course of 25 weeks. Anti-glycan IgM responses developed early after vaccination, but did not rise in response to later vaccinations.

Dominance rank-associated gene expression is widespread, sex-specific, and a precursor to high social status in wild male baboons.

In humans and other hierarchical species, social status is tightly linked to variation in health and fitness-related traits. Experimental manipulations of social status in female rhesus macaques suggest that this relationship is partially explained by status effects on immune gene regulation. However, social hierarchies are established and maintained in different ways across species: While some are based on kin-directed nepotism, others emerge from direct physical competition.

Diagnosis of schistosomiasis mansoni: an evaluation of existing methods and research towards single worm pair detection.

The inadequacy of current diagnostics for the detection of low worm burdens in humans means that schistosomiasis mansoni is more widespread than previously acknowledged. With the inception of mass drug treatment programmes aimed at disease elimination and the advent of human vaccine trials, the need for more sensitive diagnostics is evident. In this review, we evaluate the merits and limitations of the principal diagnostic methods, namely detection of eggs in faeces; anti-schistosome antibodies in serum; parasite-derived proteins and glycans in serum or urine; parasite DNA in blood, faeces or urine.

Diurnal transcriptome atlas of a primate across major neural and peripheral tissues.

Diurnal gene expression patterns underlie time-of-the-day-specific functional specialization of tissues. However, available circadian gene expression atlases of a few organs are largely from nocturnal vertebrates. We report the diurnal transcriptome of 64 tissues, including 22 brain regions, sampled every 2 hours over 24 hours, from the primate (baboon).

Protective Effect of Chronic Schistosomiasis in Baboons Coinfected with Schistosoma mansoni and Plasmodium knowlesi.

Malaria and schistosomiasis coinfections are common, and chronic schistosomiasis has been implicated in affecting the severity of acute malaria. However, whether it enhances or attenuates malaria has been controversial due the lack of appropriately controlled human studies and relevant animal models. To examine this interaction, we conducted a randomized controlled study using the baboon (Papio anubis) to analyze the effect of chronic schistosomiasis on severe malaria.

Protective Potential of Antioxidant Enzymes as Vaccines for Schistosomiasis in a Non-Human Primate Model.

Schistosomiasis remains a major cause of morbidity in the world. The challenge today is not so much in the clinical management of individual patients, but rather in population-based control of transmission in endemic areas. Despite recent large-scale efforts, such as integrated control programs aimed at limiting schistosomiasis by improving education and sanitation, molluscicide treatment programs and chemotherapy with praziquantel, there has only been limited success.

Improved sensitivity of the urine CAA lateral-flow assay for diagnosing active Schistosoma infections by using larger sample volumes.

Background: Accurate determination of Schistosoma infection rates in low endemic regions to examine progress towards interruption of transmission and elimination requires highly sensitive diagnostic tools. An existing lateral flow (LF) based test demonstrating ongoing infections through detection of worm circulating anodic antigen (CAA), was improved for sensitivity through implementation of a protocol allowing increased sample input. Urine is the preferred sample as collection is non-invasive and sample volume is generally not a restriction.

The protein DIIIC-2, aggregated with a specific oligodeoxynucleotide and adjuvanted in alum, protects mice and monkeys against DENV-2.

Previously, we reported the ability of the chimeric protein DIIIC-2 (domain III of the dengue envelope protein fused to the capsid protein of dengue-2 virus), to induce immunity and protection in mice, when it is highly aggregated with a non-defined oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) and adjuvanted in alum. In this work, three different defined ODNs were studied as aggregating agents. Our results suggest that the nature of the ODN influences the capacity of protein DIIIC-2 to activate cell-mediated immunity in mice.

Tools for diagnosis, monitoring and screening of Schistosoma infections utilizing lateral-flow based assays and upconverting phosphor labels.

The potential of various quantitative lateral flow (LF) based assays utilizing up-converting phosphor (UCP) reporters for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis is reviewed including recent developments. Active infections are demonstrated by screening for the presence of regurgitated worm antigens (genus specific polysaccharides), whereas anti-Schistosoma antibodies may indicate ongoing as well as past infections. The circulating anodic antigen (CAA) in serum or urine (and potentially also saliva) is identified as the marker that may allow detection of single-worm infections.

Capsid protein: evidences about the partial protective role of neutralizing antibody-independent immunity against dengue in monkeys.

The role of cellular immune response in dengue virus infection is not yet fully understood. Only few studies in murine models propose that CD8(+) T-cells are associated with protection from infection and disease. At the light of recent reports about the protective role of CD8(+) T-cells in humans and the no correlation between neutralizing antibodies and protection observed in several studies, a vaccine based on cell-mediated immunity constitute an attractive approach.

Olive baboons: a non-human primate model for testing dengue virus type 2 replication.

Objective: This study evaluated the use of a non-human primate, the olive baboon (Papio anubis), as a model of dengue infection. Olive baboons closely resemble humans genetically and physiologically and have been used extensively for assessing novel vaccine formulations.

Methods: Two doses of dengue virus type 2 (DENV-2) were tested in baboons: 10(3) and 10(4) pfu.

Functional evaluation of malaria Pfs25 DNA vaccine by in vivo electroporation in olive baboons.

Plasmodium falciparum Pfs25 antigen, expressed on the surface of zygotes and ookinetes, is one of the leading targets for the development of a malaria transmission-blocking vaccine (TBV). Our laboratory has been evaluating DNA plasmid based Pfs25 vaccine in mice and non-human primates. Previously, we established that in vivo electroporation (EP) delivery is an effective method to improve the immunogenicity of DNA vaccine encoding Pfs25 in mice.