Project description
Multiplex serological assay for febrile illness treatment in Africa
Progress against malaria in sub-Saharan Africa is revealing a rise in non-malaria fevers. The disease burden is shifting from parasitic infections to viral infections, with a greater variety of pathogens emerging. The ERC-funded ULTIMASero project aims to investigate long-term trends in infectious diseases in Cameroon, Madagascar, and Senegal. It will develop a multiplex serological assay using Luminex technology to measure antibodies against over 300 pathogens. This analysis will include samples from febrile patients and 50 000 biobanked samples collected over three decades. The goal is to improve strategies for studying and treating febrile illness in Africa.
Objective
Enormous progress is being made in the fight against parasitic diseases such as malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, which is driving a long-term epidemiological shift in the burden of infectious diseases. Until recently, most febrile patients presenting to rural health facilities were presumptively treated for malaria. However, the decline in malaria cases coupled with the roll out of rapid diagnostic tests has revealed a substantial burden of non-malaria fevers. I hypothesise that the predominant disease burden in Africa is changing from parasites to viruses, and that the diversity of infecting pathogens is increasing over time.
ULTIMASero aims to investigate long-term trends in the epidemiology of infectious diseases by taking a multi-pathogen approach using multiplex serological and molecular assays, epidemiological studies, and statistical modelling. This will be achieved through four aims: (i) Investigate febrile patients in longitudinal studies in Senegal, Cameroon, and Madagascar; (ii) Develop a multiplex serological assay for viral, parasitic, and bacterial pathogens in Africa; (iii) Create statistical and machine learning tools for multiplex data; and (iv) Implement sero-epidemiological analyses of long-term trends in infectious disease in general populations.
The key technological output will be a multiplex serological assay using Luminex bead-based technology to measure antibodies to infectious diseases transmitted in Africa. The assay will test small volume blood samples for antibodies to >300 antigens from >100 pathogens. We will test samples from prospective cohorts of febrile patients to provide an in-depth assessment of the burden of febrile illness, and from 50,000 biobanked samples dating back over 30 years to assess long-term trends in multi-pathogen epidemiology in the general population.
The knowledge generated from this interdisciplinary project will have major implications for how we study, track, prevent and treat febrile illness in Africa.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases malaria
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health epidemiology
- natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence machine learning
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-COG
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75724 Paris
France
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