Welcome, Laboratory for Infectious & Tropical Diseases (LITD) 

We study malaria parasites. Malaria remains a leading cause of childhood illness and death in sub-Saharan Africa, threatening the health and economic well-being of families across the region, including in Ghana. Effective vaccines and alternative drug candidates are still lacking, largely because our understanding of the biology and immunology of the parasite's transmission stages remains limited- closing that gap is the central focus of our research programme. 

We have established field sites for malaria research in the Ashanti, Volta and Northern Regions, where we apply modern molecular and immunological approaches to understand fundamental Plasmodium falciparum biology within the human host- how the parasite develops, how hosts respond to infection, how host immunity and the parasite interact, and how gametocyte biology and immunity play out in infected populations. We work collaboratively with national and international partners across academia, industry, health delivery and policy to advance our research and support the development of new drugs and vaccines against malaria. 

Our laboratory is based in the Department of Clinical Microbiology, School of Medical Sciences, at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, and is part of the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens at the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra. We also collaborate with a number of national and international partners across the USA, Europe and Australia.