Dr Annette MacLeod

I work on single-celled parasites called African trypanosomes. African trypanosomes present a significant burden to large areas of sub-Saharan Africa, leading to an estimated $1.3 billion annual loss to the African economy. The majority of this economic cost is attributable to the veterinary disease Nagana, caused by the animal trypanosome species T. vivax, T. congolense and T. b. brucei. Nagana affects over 20 million livestock animals, lowering herd productivity and increasing mortality. This renders large areas of sub-Saharan Africa inhospitable for the more profitable livestock species and breeds. More directly, in humans, African trypanosomes cause the debilitating and often fatal disease African sleeping sickness, leading to a loss of 1.3 million disability-adjusted life years (DALY) to the African economy annually. The majority of trypanosome species are unable to infect humans due to an innate resistance mechanism. However, the T. brucei subspecies T. b. rhodesiense and T. b. gambiense have evolved to overcome this innate resistance and can infect humans. Of the two human-infective subspecies, T. b. gambiense is the more prevalent, causing more than 95% of human cases.

My research, funded by my Wellcome Trust senior fellowship, is focused on studying two main aspects of T.b. gambiense infections.

1. How the parasites cause infection?
2. How humans fight that infection?

I have also founded an international collaborative research network called TrypanoGEN. Funded by the Wellcome Trust as part of the H3Africa initiative, the overall aim of TrypanoGEN is to improve the health of people living in some of the poorest countries in the world which carry a disproportionate burden of infectious diseases. Despite their importance, the study of many tropical diseases has lagged behind that of diseases of developed countries. The TrypanoGEN network is redressing the balance by performing high quality research into human African trypanosomiasis. The data generated by this network will extend beyond trypanosomiasis susceptibility by providing a unique resource to study human genetic variation across Africa.

TrypanoGEN has 4 main aims:

1 Generate a database of human genetic variation in different African countries and perform a genome-wide association study for susceptibility to trypanosomiasis.
2 Create an extensive biobank housed in network hubs.
3. Develop infrastructure in African laboratories.
4. Provide training for African scientists.

More details about TrypanoGEN can be found at www.trypanogen.net