Director's Word

Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC):

In 1988, the Malaria Research and Training Center was created within the Department of Epidemiology of Parasitic Diseases (DEAP) at the University of Mali, through a partnership grant provided by the Rockefeller Foundation and the World Health Organization to a consortium including the National School of Medicine and Pharmacy (now the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Odonto-stomatology) in Bamako; the Institute of Parasitology at the University of Rome; and the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases (LPD) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

That partnership grant was renewed in 1993, and additional core funding, including support of an in-country NIAID senior scientist, has been provided by the U.S. Public Health Service’s Office of International Health through its Health and Human Resources in Africa (HHRAA) Initiative, administered by USAID, and by the USAID mission in Bamako. This support has been coordinated by the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at NIAID.

Pr. Yéya Touré, the principal investigator on the partnership grant, and the late Pr. Ogobara Doumbo, the chairman of the DEAP, have built one of the strongest malaria research institutions within Africa, with support from numerous funding agencies and collaborative relationships with several Northern and Southern research institutions. The MRTC is organized into two main facilities: an Entomology section which was directed by Pr. Touré focusing on transmission and vector aspects of malaria, and a Parasitology and epidemiology section which was directed by the late Pr. Doumbo focusing on host and parasite aspects of malaria. 

MRTC was saddened by the untimely passing away of Prof. Ogobara Doumbo on June 9th 2018. Prof. Doumbo was one of the most influential African scientist, a great leader, trainer, mentor and role model for all of us. We are forever indebted to his leadership and vision. In September 2018 I had the honor to be designated to fill in his role as Director of the MRTC – Parasitology Section. I am seconded by Prof. Mahamadou Soumana Sissoko as Deputy Director.    

Together with the MRTC- Entomology section and the University Clinical Research Center (UCRC) we form the NIH sponsored International Center of Excellence in Research – Mali (ICERMALI).

The MRTC-Parasito current permanent staff includes over 100 personnel, of which over 30 are doctoral level scientists. We are involved in all aspects of research on malaria. All work at the MRTC is directed at the development and testing of appropriate strategies for the eventual control of malaria and the reduction of the burden of disease. Ongoing studies include malaria epidemiology, transmission, drug resistance, vaccine and development, pathogenesis and malaria in pregnancy. MRTC has a long history of clinical trials for new drugs including Phases I, II and III for ivermectin, Phase IIa and IIb for halofantrine, Phase II multicenter trial for Paluther, Phase II for savarine, and Phase II for nitoxasanide). The Center was recently equipped with MiSeq for NGS, a SeqStudio for sanger sequencing, MALDI-TOFF and high capacity servers for data storage and analysis. A CLIA certified clinical laboratory has been set in Bamako to support ongoing clinical trials. State of the art laboratory equipment is available in the labs and all equipment is linked to an emergency power system to maintain operations in the event of local power failure.

The MRTC-Parasito maintains field research sites in all regions of Mali including vaccine, drugs and diagnostic trial sites at Bandiagara and Doneguebougou and drug trial sites at Sikasso, Sotuba, Kolle and Hopital Gabriel Toure in Bamako. We also conduct cutting edge biomedical research in various fields including Epidemiology, Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology, Imunology, malaria in pregnancy, Biostatistics, Data management, etc. A Local Area Network is linked to high speed and secured Internet. 

Although initially mainly focused on malaria, MRTC-Parasito is not only continuing to work on other parasitic diseases such as Shistosomiasis, Leishmaniasis, etc. but also on Fungi, Bacteria, Archebacteria, and various viruses that are emerging or re-emerging in our sub-Region. Through a thorough knowledge of local culture we maintain superb and long lasting relationships with all of our study communities and authorities.