The Gambia RPCV Lisa Reimer awarded grant from the African American and African studies program at UC Davis to fund her research on insecticide resistance of the malaria mosquito in Mali



According to Reimer, insecticides are primarily developed for agriculture and only used in public health when deemed appropriate. As a result, new insecticides are not available for the public-health sector, resulting in a developing resistance from treated insects. Speaking on local workers who continue to spray despite noticing control failure, Reimer said, "If they keep using those insecticides on a partially resistant population, they can drive that resistance to fixation." Reimer, as a result, said she is interested in identifying the mechanisms of resistance in the mosquito and methods to detect them early on.

The Gambia RPCV Lisa Reimer awarded grant from the African American and African studies program at UC Davis to fund her research on insecticide resistance of the malaria mosquito in Mali

UC Davis graduate student awarded grant for mosquito research

Lisa Reimer to travel to West Africa this summer

By: Chintan Desai

Issue date: 5/9/07 Section: Science & Tech

For Lisa Reimer, a UC Davis doctoral student who has spent time in Africa both as a science teacher with the U.S. Peace Corps and as a researcher, the inadequacies of the continent's public-health system touched her personally.

"When I was living in The Gambia in a village, it became common to hear the wailing sounds of a funeral because when somebody dies, the women stay up wailing all night, and you would hear this all too frequently," she said.

Reimer recently received a $2,000 grant from the African American and African studies program at UC Davis to fund her research this summer in the West African nation of Mali.

After receiving her bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash. in 2000, Reimer joined the Peace Corps, working as a science teacher for an all-girls high school in The Gambia. It was there that she discovered through her personal interaction with a population heavily affected by insect-borne diseases her desire to extend her contribution to disease prevention beyond community education.

Following two years with the Peace Corps, she served for a short time as a research assistant at Princeton University before enrolling in the entomology doctoral program at UC Davis in 2005.

Since then, the focus of Reimer's work has been insecticide resistance of the malaria mosquito in West Africa, which included a trip to Mali last summer doing field and laboratory work.

According to Reimer, insecticides are primarily developed for agriculture and only used in public health when deemed appropriate. As a result, new insecticides are not available for the public-health sector, resulting in a developing resistance from treated insects.

Speaking on local workers who continue to spray despite noticing control failure, Reimer said, "If they keep using those insecticides on a partially resistant population, they can drive that resistance to fixation."

Reimer, as a result, said she is interested in identifying the mechanisms of resistance in the mosquito and methods to detect them early on.

ccording to Gregory Lanzaro, Reimer's major professor and director of the UC Mosquito Research Program, malaria is a "very serious problem in all of sub-Saharan Africa," surpassing the AIDS virus as the leading cause of death in many places in the continent within the last three to four years.

Lanzaro said there are between 300 and 500 million clinical cases of the disease every year, with most of the 1 to 3 million deaths stemming from malaria in Africa. Children under 5 years of age and pregnant women represent the groups highest at risk to acquire the disease.

When asked about why he believes malaria is such a prevalent issue in Africa, Lanzaro cited several factors.

"I think it's a combination of some of the biological factors, like resistance to insecticides in the mosquito, resistance to drugs in the parasite, coupled with just a breakdown in the health infrastructure," he said.

Lanzaro also pointed to the political situation in many African nations, with unstable governments and constant civil war causing people to become displaced and live in substandard conditions where they are exposed to more insect bites.

Reimer, meanwhile, said she will be in Mali for August and September, spending half of the time working in the field collecting and raising resistant and susceptible colonies of mosquitoes in a controlled environment for the purposes of comparison.

When asked why she wanted to make another trip to the West African nation, Reimer cited a growing affinity for African culture, as well as what she sees as a problem that could be fixed.

"I became acutely aware of not only the problems associated with malaria there, but it's preventable and that's what is so frustrating," she said.

Reimer said while the United States and most other Western nations have eradicated the disease, success cannot be declared until it is eradicated everywhere. However, she cautioned that improvements should be made in a cultural context.

"One thing I always keep in mind in terms of my work is not to assume that we know what's best.… We have to think of the problem in an entirely different context, where we leave out our own cultures and our own values," she said.

Reimer also said that if Western nations have the capacity to do work on malaria in Africa, they should equip the people with the knowledge and skills to solve these problems. Reimer noted that she is collaborating with a graduate student in Mali whom she has worked with on the insecticide resistance project both at UC Davis and in the West African nation.

Speaking on the travel grant she received from the African American and African studies program, Reimer said she is "really excited to add her research."

Lanzaro similarly shared excitement for the grant, saying it will give Reimer an opportunity to apply what she has learned in Davis to where it is really needed.

According to Moradewun Adejunmobi, director of the African American and African studies department, recipients of grants for various amounts are chosen by the African Studies Committee, composed mostly of faculty on campus whose work relates to the continent.

Adejunmobi said Reimer was one of several graduate students who received a grant in departments ranging from French to history. Speaking specifically on Reimer's work, Adejunmobi noted its "real-world significance."

Reimer said when she comes back she will finish up analyses of mosquitoes she brought from Africa, as well as continue to work toward her doctorate. She said she hopes to continue to work in some capacity on malaria control programs as well keep a focus on education.

Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: May, 2007; Peace Corps The Gambia; Directory of The Gambia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for The Gambia RPCVs; Peace Corps Mali; Directory of Mali RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Mali RPCVs; Malaria; Lariam; Medicine; Biology; Science; Peace Corps Bibliography; Peace Corps Directory; Peace Corps History; Peace Corps Message Board; Peace Corps Headlines

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