By Olivo Miotto, Associate Professor, University of Oxford, Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok
Humans are engaged in a constant battle against infectious diseases. The weapons used by microbes are different from those we employ, but very effective at frustrating our efforts to control and eliminate disease. For example, malaria parasites can rapidly develop mutations that make treatments less effective; the more people use antimalarial drugs, the more dramatic the response from the parasites. The battlefield also plays a decisive role: for pathogens like dengue or malaria, which are transmitted by insects, changes in the environment that affect natural habitats make a profound difference. Can humanity create a disease-free future while protecting the environment?
BIOGRAPHY
Olivo Miotto (Italy/Thailand) is Associate Professor at the University of Oxford based at the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Bangkok, where he specialises in genomic epidemiology of malaria parasites. Miotto is the principal investigator of GenRe-Mekong, a regional genetic surveillance project that uses advanced genomic technologies to produce maps of drug resistance and gene flow in local parasite population, which are used by national malaria control programmes to make strategic decisions on treatments and interventions. He also collaborates with researchers across the globe, analysing thousands of parasite genomes to understand the evolution of antimalarial drug resistance and, ultimately, help support the eradication of this diseases.
Image: Olivo Miotto.
