Mapping Drug Resistance

How would you feel if a child in the United States died every 30 seconds from a completely curable disease?

Although this may not be the case here, it is very much a reality in Africa.

It is this reality that Shiv M. Gaglani ’10, a medical researcher at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), is working to change.

Gaglani spent last summer and this semester developing an assay—a genetic test—that will detect drug-resistant versions of malaria, a disease that kills over 1 million people each year.

His assay searches for small DNA mutations that cause the malaria parasite to be drug resistant. The DNA mutations are the culprits because they lead to changes in the proteins that an organism produces.

“Since many anti-malarial drugs target these proteins,” Gaglani said, “any mutations in their sequences can make the drugs ineffective.”

Gaglani said that his research can help “map out the broader scale of the drug resistance patterns across the continent” and better tailor treatments to individual patients.

According to Sarah K. Volkman, a research scientist at HSPH and Gaglani’s adviser on the project, his assay will likely be ready to be tested in Senegal in about six months.

Gaglani got involved with Volkman’s team this past summer through the Harvard Initiative in Global Health Summer Undergraduate Research Program, which affords a group of students from the College the chance to get involved with hands-on medical research each summer.

Gaglani said he chose to research malaria because it is “such a huge problem” despite having been mostly eradicated in the United States.

Gaglani said he feels a special connection to Africa, as he was born in Namibia, although he is of Indian descent. He said he hopes to go to Africa within the next two or three years to help train African scientists to use the assay to fight malaria.

“He’s very bright and motivated, with lots of talent. It’s easy for him to understand the relationships between the technology and human health, and he’s done a good job with the assay he’s developed, which will have a direct application to the field,” Dr. Volkman said.

—Staff writer Prateek Kumar can be reached at kumar@fas.harvard.edu.

For recent research, faculty profiles, and a look at the issues facing Harvard scientists, check out The Crimson's science page.