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Professor Susana Campino

PhD

Professor
of Genomics and Infectious Diseases

Room
395

LSHTM
Keppel Street
London
WC1E 7HT
United Kingdom

I completed my PhD at the University of Umea, Sweden on the “Genetic analysis of murine malaria”. In 2004, I was awarded a Marie Curie Post Doc fellowship to work on “Genetic determinants of human severe malaria” at the University of Oxford. In 2007, I moved to The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute to investigate the worldwide genetic diversity of the malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum. I had the opportunity to conduct fieldwork in several endemic regions (e.g. Thailand, Cambodia, Burkina Faso). This post also gave me the opportunity to expand my knowledge on whole genome sequencing analysis and population genetics. 

I moved to the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in 2015 to work on evolution of malaria parasite and to develop genetic barcodes for malaria surveillance. I am also involved in projects related to the genetic diversity of Mycobacteria tuberculosis and Zika virus.

Affiliations

Department of Infection Biology
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases

Centres

Malaria Centre
Centre for Statistical Methodology
TB Centre

Teaching

I am the co-coordinator of the Pathogen genomics course and I am also involved in various aspects of teaching Genetic epidemiology and Genomics and virology in several Mcs modules. 

Research

The main focus of my research is to use genomics and genetic approaches to understand more of the biology of infectious diseases, particularly malaria, arboviruses and tuberculosis.

We use large whole genome sequencing data sets to shed light on evolution and population genetics, which can be use to forecast how infectious microorganism will change in response to interventions and to drive the development of novel diagnostics and surveillance tools. We are particularly interesting in malaria surveillance and we develop genetic barcodes that include a small number of polymorphisms, to identify the species, geographic origin and drug resistant profile of parasites.This barcode could be directly use in field-settings to support malaria surveillance as well as be used to quantify the extent of co-infections in public sequence data. This barcode can also be the basis for a diagnostic tool. We are presently exploring the use of the isothermal RPA enzyme, previously use to detect Ebola and recently Zika virus in mobile labs, to develop a point-of-care and field-use diagnostic tool capable of distinguish all 6 human malaria species and also a range of other pathogens, such as leishmania and arboviruses.

My teams has also projectes using whole genome and target sequencing  to explore the genetic diversity and insecticide resistance in many vectors, including mosquitoes, sandflies and ticks.

We are also involved in a project that aims do investigate current infectious disease outbreaks of Zika and malaria in Cape Verde, an island that is in a malaria pre-elimination stage. We are screening mosquitos and also humans to  discover the origin of the outbreaks, their spread and the efficacy of control measurements.

Research Area
Bacteria
Diagnostics
Drug discovery and development
Drug resistance
Human genetics
Maternal health
Parasites
Public health
Statistical methods
Surveillance
Viruses
Disease control
Global Health
Vector control
Discipline
Genetic epidemiology
Genomics
Molecular epidemiology
Bacteriology
Genetics
Microbiology
Parasitology
Statistics
Vector biology
Virology
Bioinformatics
Disease and Health Conditions
Infectious disease
Malaria
Tuberculosis
Dengue
Emerging Infectious Disease
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
Tropical diseases
Vector borne disease
Zoonotic disease
Country
Bangladesh
Brazil
Colombia
Cape Verde
Algeria
United Kingdom
The Gambia
Kenya
Cambodia
Mali
Malawi
Philippines
Portugal
Singapore
Sao Tome and Principe
Thailand
Uganda
Vietnam
South Africa
Region
East Asia & Pacific (all income levels)
European Union
Latin America & Caribbean (developing only)
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa (all income levels)

Selected Publications

A molecular barcode to inform the geographical origin and transmission dynamics of Plasmodium vivax malaria.
Diez Benavente E; Campos M; Phelan J; Nolder D; Dombrowski JG; Marinho CRF; Sriprawat K; Taylor AR; Watson J; Roper C
2020
PLoS genetics
Whole genome sequencing of amplified Plasmodium knowlesi DNA from unprocessed blood reveals genetic exchange events between Malaysian Peninsular and Borneo subpopulations.
Benavente ED; Gomes AR; De Silva JR; Grigg M; Walker H; Barber BE; William T; Yeo TW; de Sessions PF; Ramaprasad A
2019
Scientific reports
Rapid and iterative genome editing in the malaria parasite Plasmodium knowlesi provides new tools for P. vivax research.
Mohring F; Hart MN; Rawlinson TA; Henrici R; Charleston JA; Diez Benavente E; Patel A; Hall J; Almond N; Campino S
2019
eLife
Global genetic diversity of var2csa in Plasmodium falciparum with implications for malaria in pregnancy and vaccine development.
Benavente ED; Oresegun DR; de Sessions PF; Walker EM; Roper C; Dombrowski JG; de Souza RM; Marinho CRF; Sutherland CJ; Hibberd ML
2018
Scientific reports
A forward genetic screen reveals a primary role for Plasmodium falciparum Reticulocyte Binding Protein Homologue 2a and 2b in determining alternative erythrocyte invasion pathways.
Campino S; Marin-Menendez A; Kemp A; Cross N; Drought L; Otto TD; Benavente ED; Ravenhall M; Schwach F; Girling G
2018
PLoS pathogens
PrimedRPA: primer design for recombinase polymerase amplification assays.
Higgins M; Ravenhall M; Ward D; Phelan J; Ibrahim A; Forrest MS; Clark TG; Campino S
2018
Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)
Novel genetic polymorphisms associated with severe malaria and under selective pressure in North-eastern Tanzania.
Ravenhall M; Campino S; Sepúlveda N; Manjurano A; Nadjm B; Mtove G; Wangai H; Maxwell C; Olomi R; Reyburn H
2018
PLoS genetics
G6PD deficiency alleles in a malaria-endemic region in the Western Brazilian Amazon.
Dombrowski JG; Souza RM; Curry J; Hinton L; Silva NRM; Grignard L; Gonçalves LA; Gomes AR; Epiphanio S; Drakeley C
2017
Malaria journal
Genomic variation in two gametocyte non-producing Plasmodium falciparum clonal lines.
Campino S; Benavente ED; Assefa S; Thompson E; Drought LG; Taylor CJ; Gorvett Z; Carret CK; Flueck C; Ivens AC
2016
Malaria journal
Genomic epidemiology of artemisinin resistant malaria.
MalariaGEN Plasmodium falciparum Community Project
2016
eLife
Genomic analysis of local variation and recent evolution in Plasmodium vivax.
Pearson RD; Amato R; Auburn S; Miotto O; Almagro-Garcia J; Amaratunga C; Suon S; Mao S; Noviyanti R; Trimarsanto H
2016
Nature genetics
Genetic architecture of artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum.
Miotto O; Amato R; Ashley EA; MacInnis B; Almagro-Garcia J; Amaratunga C; Lim P; Mead D; Oyola SO; Dhorda M
2015
Nature genetics
K13-propeller polymorphisms in Plasmodium falciparum parasites from sub-Saharan Africa.
Kamau E; Campino S; Amenga-Etego L; Drury E; Ishengoma D; Johnson K; Mumba D; Kekre M; Yavo W; Mead D
2014
The Journal of infectious diseases
Optimized whole-genome amplification strategy for extremely AT-biased template.
Oyola SO; Manske M; Campino S; Claessens A; Hamilton WL; Kekre M; Drury E; Mead D; Gu Y; Miles A
2014
DNA research : an international journal for rapid publication of reports on genes and genomes
Analysis of Plasmodium falciparum diversity in natural infections by deep sequencing.
Manske M; Miotto O; Campino S; Auburn S; Almagro-Garcia J; Maslen G; O'Brien J; Djimde A; Doumbo O; Zongo I
2012
Nature
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