Recon_Project__Genetic_reconnaissance_technology_to_support_malaria_elimination_in_the_Greater_Mekong_Subregion__GMS_. Recon_Project__Genetic_reconnaissance_technology_to_support_malaria_elimination_in_the_Greater_Mekong_Subregion__GMS_

In 2015 and 2016 (the project's Technology Development Phase) the technical components of the project will be designed, and the project pipeline will be implemented and tested working together with a small number of local partners in the form of sentinel research projects. Specifically, DNA will be extracted from dried blood spot samples by our collaborating Laboratory at MORU, Bangkok, and shipped to WTSI for genotyping, capillary and whole genome sequencing. In 2017 (the Proof-of-concept [POC] Implementation Phase), technologies developed in the first phase of the project will be deployed at scale ; processing samples collected by an extensive network of clinics and village health workers across the GMS. The ongoing emergence of slow-clearing parasite strains in the GMS is considered the single greatest threat to to the use of artemisinin combination therapies (ACT) to control malaria. The spread of artemisinin resistance to African parasites could roll back recent achievements, with disastrous effects – and thus major efforts are underway to eliminate Plasmodium falciparum malaria from the GMS. It is hoped that this work will benefit endemic regions across the world by helping to preserve the effectiveness of artemisinin, and by developing a technological platform deployable in other control and elimination contexts (in the Americas and in Africa). This data is part of a pre-publication release. For information on the proper use of pre-publication data shared by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (including details of any publication moratoria), please see http://www.sanger.ac.uk/datasharing/