The Burden of Malaria Among Pregnant Women in Burkina Faso

Malaria in pregnancy is a major threat to the mother and unborn baby. This project includes screening of approximately 900 blood samples by PCR for malaria parasites. The samples had been collected from pregnant women in Burkina Faso, where malaria transmission is intense. The student will learn DNA extraction, different PCR methods, and further molecular assays to characterize parasites. She/he will also be conducting data analysis on the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis conducted in Burkina Faso compared to PCR. We expect the results will be published in a scientific journal, and the student will be a co-author on this publication. 

Name of research group, project, or lab
Koepfli Lab
Why join this research group or lab?

Undergraduate researchers in our lab have been closely involved in our research, and several have conducted field work with our partners in Africa. Some of them published first-author peer-reviewed scientific papers (Lopez and Koepfli, Plos One 2021; Reynders et al, Malaria Journal in press).

Representative publication
2022_Niyukuri_PGPH.pdf
Logistics Information:
Project categories
Biological Sciences
Student ranks applicable
Sophomore
Junior
Hours per week
1 credit / 3-6 hours
2 credits / 6-12 hours
Compensation
Research for Credit
Number of openings
1
Techniques learned

Applicants should have basic training in (or a keen interest to learn)  laboratory work.

Contact Information:
Mentor
Cristian Koepfli
ckoepfli@nd.edu
Assistant Professor
Name of project director or principal investigator
Cristian Koepfli
Email address of project director or principal investigator
ckoepfli@nd.edu
1 sp. | 26 appl.
Hours per week
1 credit / 3-6 hours (+1)
1 credit / 3-6 hours2 credits / 6-12 hours
Project categories
Biological Sciences