Trip to Ghana

01 Oct 2019

In September, Gnatwork Manager Emma Howson visited Ghana to meet four co-investigators on Gnatwork funded projects. A meeting was held at The University of Cape Coast, with Dr Godwin Kwakye-Nuako, a project co-investigator investigating whether FTA cards can be used to monitor Leishmania infection in sandflies and biting midges. Led by Dr Matthew Rogers at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Godwin led the field work in Ghana to assess modified traps for detecting Leishmania parasites.

Further meetings were held later in the week with Dr Mike Yaw Osei-Atweneboana, Director of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Water Research Institute. Mike is co-investigator on three Gnatwork projects, one of which is lead Prof John Colbourne at The University of Birmingham. Alongside Prof Daniel Boakye and Dr Samuel Armoo, this project looks to validate nanopore sequencing technology for Onchocerciasis control. The second project, led by Dr Orin Courtenay at The University of Warwick, aims to understand host heterogeneity to vector-borne disease exposure. For the third project, “Micro-CT visualisation of the parasite-host interface in small biting flies”, Mike and field scientist Tony Tetteh-Kumah are key in advising on blackfly collections in Ghana.

We had a very productive week and are currently producing video interviews with Godwin, Tony, Mike and Daniel, so keep an eye on our twitter feed and youtube channel for these.