FUNDING ORGANIZATION	RESEARCH ORGANIZATION	PROGRAM	DIRECTOR	CITY	COUNTRY	ABSTRACT
	EC	KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY	AFRICAN PROGRAMME FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH EPIDEMIOLOGY TRAINING	SARPONG, NIMAKO	KUMASI	GHANA	View
The APARET fellowship programme will catalyse independent research activities of graduates of Field Epidemiology Training Programmes (FETP) and Field Epidemiology Laboratory Training programmes (FELTP) in Africa. APARET fellows will be employed as research associates by African APARET partners for 2 years (salary provided by host institute). During the first year of their contract they will be embedded in the EU-supported APARET programme. A core part of the fellowship will be the application for a major research grant. The APARET programme will consist of: - Workshops: a two-week initiation workshop with face-to face contact between fellow and mentor and workshops on topics such as research funding, project management, ethical issues; a one-week proposal writing and project-planning workshop; a one-week final seminar, where fellows will present their result. - A mentoring programme linking each fellow with a local supervisor and an external mentor providing support for scientific and grant writing activities - Small research grants enabling the fellows to perform independent scientific activities at their host institutes. - Embedding the fellows in a network of African and European epidemiologists APARET can be credited towards a PhD degree of the respective university. EU-funding covers 3 successive cohorts of fellows. APARET will support the fellows in meeting the following objectives: I) Main objective: Prepare, write and submit a proposal for a major research grant. II) Additional objectives: 1. Plan, develop and conduct an epidemiological research project. 2. Perform epidemiological analyses 3. Submit a scientific manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal. 4. Critically review and provide feedback on a scientific paper. 5. Participate in the training of other epidemiologists. APARET supports well-trained epidemiologists in establishing a career in Africa.
	EC	KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY	ENHANCED PROTECTIVE IMMUNITY AGAINST FILARIASIS	ADJEI, OHENE	KUMASI	GHANA	View
Filarial infections remain a major public health problem in West and Central Africa. Three filarial species are involved: Onchocerca volvulus (onchocerciasis or river blindness); Wuchereria bancrofti (lymphatic filariasis); and Loa loa (the eye worm). Treatment of onchocerciasis with ivermectin has been successful in many situations but emergence of drug resistance and risk of severe adverse reactions associated with L loa co-infections is restricting the implementation of mass treatment and consequently alternate approaches to control are required. Studies with animal models have identified the general mechanisms of protective immunity while human studies have drawn attention to immune regulatory processes that influence clinical presentations Together, these observation provide a basis for vaccine development. The next challenge is to identify target antigens and ensure appropriate formulation and delivery to promote protective responses and avoid any pathology. This project aims to: 1, use transciptomics and bioinformatics to identify the parasite molecules that are targets of protective immunity and that may influence the regulation of such responses; and 2, microarray technologies and bioinformatics to determine the pathways that lead to expression of protective immunity. Cohorts of onchocerciasis patients who have received treatment with ivermectin or tetracycline, or are co infected with either W bancrofti or L loa provide both input to the pathway studies and a means of validation of the computer assimilations. Confirmation of the mechanisms and targets of protective immunity and validation of computer assimilations will also be investigated using the O ochengi-cattle model that also enables experimentation under natural challenge. Litomosoides sigmodontis in mice provides a robust and rapid validation of results obtained from computation relating to expression and regulation of protective responses and a primary system for screening vaccine candidates
	EC	KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY	IDENTIFICATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF VACCINE CANDIDATES FOR BURULI ULCER DISEASE	PHILLIPS, RICHARD ODAME	KUMASI	GHANA	View
Buruli ulcer disease (BUD), caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, is a neglected bacterial infection of the poor in remote rural areas, mostly affecting children. BUD, the third most common mycobacterial disease in immunocompetent humans after tuberculosis and leprosy, is most endemic in West Africa, but cases have been reported from more than 30 countries. BUD is a mutilating disease leading to severe disability. Treatment with antibiotics is possible but is long-lasting and requires injections, shows treatment failures and drug resistance may occur. A vaccine against M. ulcerans would protect persons at risk in highly endemic areas and could be used as a therapeutic vaccine to shorten duration of treatment and to prevent relapses. The general objective of BuruliVac is to identify and develop novel vaccine candidates suitable for translation into clinical application. This objective will be achieved by a multidisciplinary approach involving among others basic and applied research in immunology, bioinformatics, molecular genetics, tropical medicine, microbiology and clinical bacteriology. As currently no existing vaccine lead candidate is available, the consortium will identify and develop new vaccine candidates of different types, will evaluate them using bioinformatics, applied genomics and proteomics and will subject them to consecutive test systems. For evaluation of vaccine candidates regarding their application in humans, the consortium will also study the immune response and disease immunopathology to define correlates of protection. Essential pre-clinical testing in vitro and in vivo will select a small number of candidates that is amenable to be introduced into clinical studies.
	MRC	KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY	MATERNAL MORBIDITY AFTER CAESAREAN SECTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: LONG TERM FOLLOW-UP OF A LARGE FACTORIAL TRIAL	ADDO, V	KUMASI	GHANA	View
Caesarean section is one of the most common operations in the world, yet the techniques used to perform it have not been adequately evaluated in randomised controlled trials. Operative techniques vary between surgeons, and the frequency of the operation means than even small improvements in outcome may allow substantial improvements in the health of mothers, particularly in developing countries, where post-operative morbidity is high. The CORONIS trial will evaluate alternative techniques for the five most important aspects of the operation in a fractional factorial randomised controlled trial of 15,000 women: ?blunt? v. ?sharp? abdominal entry; extra-abdominal v. pelvic repair of the uterine incision; single v. double layer closure of the uterus; closure v. non-closure of the pelvic and parietal peritoneum; chromic catgut v. Vicryl for closure of the uterus. The short-term primary outcome of the study is serious maternal morbidity. This follow-up study will allow us to assess long-term outcomes at 3 years after the original caesarean section to determine the impact of the different techniques on outcomes including: involuntary infertility and outcomes of subsequent pregnancies including uterine rupture.
	MRC	KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY	PREVENTION OF MATERNAL MORBIDITY AFTER CAESAREAN SECTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A FACTORIAL RCT OF SURGICAL METHODS	ADDO, V	KUMASI	GHANA	View
Caesarean section is one of the most common operations in the world, yet the techniques used to perform it have not been adequately evaluated in randomised controlled trials. Operative techniques vary widely between surgeons, and the frequency of the operation means than even small improvements in outcome may allow substantial improvements in the health of mothers, particularly in developing countries, where post-operative morbidity is high. The International CAESAR study aims to evaluate alternative techniques for the five most important aspects of the operation in a large pragmatic randomised controlled trial: ?blunt? v. ?sharp? abdominal entry; extra-abdominal v. intra-abdominal repair of the uterine incision; single v. double layer closure of the uterus; closure v. non-closure of the pelvic and parietal peritoneum; chromic catgut v. Vicryl for closure of the uterus and rectus sheath. Women are eligible if they are undergoing a lower segment caesarean section, and if no specific surgical technique is indicated. The primary outcome of the study is serious maternal morbidity. Short term secondary outcomes such as endometritis, wound infection, pain and maternal mortality will also be measured. The trial sample size is 14,904 women recruited over three years from at least 12 hospitals in seven developing countries.
	NIH	KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY	MEPI: GHANA EMERGENCY MEDICINE COLLABORATIVE TRAINING PROGRAM	DONKOR, PETER	KUMASI	GHANA
	NIH	KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY	FINE MAPPING AND POSITIONAL CLONING OF DIABETES GENES	ACHEAMPONG, JOSEPH	KUMASI	GHANA	View
	NIH	KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY	STRENGTHENING INJURY CONTROL RESEARCH IN GHANA	DONKOR, PETER	KUMASI	GHANA	View
	Wellcome	KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY	CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT IN MALARIA RESEARCH IN AFRICA.	GREENWOOD, PROF BRIAN M	KUMASI	GHANA	View
The key goal of this proposal is to improve malaria research capacity in Africa. This will be achieved by further developing the skills of 35 African scientists previously supported through the Gates Malaria Partnership and by the training of a further 20 African scientists to doctoral level. Support for previously graduated PhD scientists will be provided through a mentoring and small grants programme. A new, highly competitive PhD programme will be established based on universities in Ghan a, Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. Successful applicants to this programme will be encouraged to undertake the majority of their research in Africa. Each student will be co-supervised by at least two supervisors, including one from a northern and one from a southern partner in an integrated way. Each student will receive an award of up to 50k for their research and will be encouraged, with guidance, to develop their own personal development programme. Successful graduates will be eligible to apply for a competitive re-entry grant. The output of this programme will be a significant contribution to research on the treatment or prevention of malaria and the establishment of an effective PhD programme that may act as a model for other African universities.