Partner study description

For this study, Lucas Amenga-Etego and colleagues collected dried blood spot (DBS) and venous blood samples from patients in the Navrongo Health and Demographic surveillance area in the Upper East Region of Northern Ghana. In collaboration with the Malaria Programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, these samples were used to compare the effectiveness of whole genome sequencing of Plasmodium falciparum from DBS, using selective whole genome amplification, as opposed to other well-established methods using leucodepleted venous blood samples. The study showed that this technique overcomes a major limiting factor in P. falciparum genome sequencing from field samples, and paves the way for large-scale epidemiological applications. The collected samples will also be used to track drug resistance genes in the area.