23. 11. 2017
Congratulations to Dr. Michael Templeton on winning the ISNTD Water 2017 Data Award, which was awarded for his work on sanitation and schistosomiasis in Ethiopia.
ASTMH conference 2017
5.11. - 9.11.2017
Dr. Michael Templeton and Laura Braun traveled to Baltimore, USA to attend the ASTMH conference and GSA Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination meeting. The findings of the recently conducted systematic review of water treatment for the removal of schistosome cercariae were presented at the poster sessions.
Trip to Tanzania and Ethiopia
16.10. - 26.10.2017
In October, Fiona Allan and Laura Braun travelled to NIMR and AAU to visit the labs and potential sampling sites. In Tanzania, samples were collected from three villages along Lake Victoria – Kigongo, Sweya and Chole. Over two days, a total of 550 snails (including a few infected snails) were collected with scoops and dredges. In Ethiopia, numerous locations around Wonji (1 hour south of Addis Ababa) were sampled. This included lake shores, and canals on a sugar plantation. Despite the use of endod as a molluscicide in this area, schistosome-infected snails were collected.
Over the next months, the chlorination and filtration trials will be set up to determine the effectiveness of chlorine and sand filters in inactivating and removing viable cercariae from water.
New MRes student
5.11.2017
Welcome to Lara Bavinton who is joining the WISER team as an MRes research student. She will be working on recombinant elastase alongside Dr. Alex Webb until March 2018.
ISNTD Water 2017
12.10.2017
Dr. Michael Templeton will be presenting at the ISNTD Water 2017 conference at the Natural History Museum on the 23rd of November, 2017. He will be discussing WISER as part of the Technology & Innovation session. For more information, please visit https://isntdwater.com/.
New PhD student!
2.10.2017
We would like to welcome Lucinda Hazell to the WISER team. Lucinda is a new PhD student in the Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Civil Engineering at Imperial College. She will be working under the supervision of Dr. Michael Templeton, focusing on water treatment against cercariae.
Welcome, Lucinda!
WISER project launched!
27.06.2017
The WISER project has officially kicked off with a meeting in London, attended by collaborators from all the partner institutions (Imperial College London, Addis Ababa University, the National Institute for Medical Research, and the Natural History Museum in London).
Collaborators from each of the partner institutions attended the WISER launch meeting.
The 2-day meeting started with presentations from each institution, addressing the institutions' histories and recent and relevant research. The group then went on to discuss the work plan, potential challenges in the project, stakeholder engagement, outreach opportunities and conferences over the three years of the project. Prof Freemont and Drs Emery and Allan gave tours of their labs (including the London DNA Foundry and the Schistosomiasis Collection at the National History Museum). The group also met with representatives from the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance and the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, in order to learn more about their activities.
Dr Templeton concluded the meeting with the words "Let's get to work!".
Dr Templeton gives an interview about reaching for the elimination of schistosomiasis
13.12.2016
He provides an overview of schistosomiasis, and discusses different approaches to its control, and eventual elimination.