# Amazonian Center of Excellence in Malaria Research

> **NIH NIH U19** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $1,366,776

## Abstract

The overall research aim of the Amazonian International Center of Excellence in Malaria Research is to
organize a comprehensive approach to understanding the biological features of Amazonian malaria towards
the ultimate goal of regional control and elimination of Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax. While in the past
the Amazonian ICEMR focused primarily on P. vivax because of its greater impact in the region, given recent
developments in both Brazil and Peru, P. falciparum will also be a focus of our work. At the national level in
Brazil, the national malaria control program has made P. falciparum a primary focus of elimination efforts, as P.
falciparum malaria remains highly prevalent in the Juruá Valley in western Brazilian Amazonia. In Peru, after
the cessation of Global Fund-supported malaria control efforts in 2010, P. falciparum has reemerged as an
important public health threat. The Amazonian ICEMR's recent meetings with the Loreto Ministry of Health
witnessed the high level of concern about this re-emergence and the Ministry's interest in harnessing the
Amazonian ICEMR's research strengths to addressing this emergent and timely issue. Overall, we anticipate
that the lessons learned will contribute towards the audacious goal of global malaria eradication.
The Amazonian ICEMR has 5 epidemiologically distinct malaria-endemic sites in Brazil and Peru. Project 1
focuses on malaria epidemiology and takes multidisciplinary approaches to study distinct transmission
patterns in the Brazilian and Peruvian malaria-endemic sites using socio-demographic analysis, molecular
epidemiology and genomics, and mathematical modeling to integrate all three ICEMR Projects, including
Project 2, which focuses on vector ecology and transmission biology, and Project 3, which focuses on
immunological mechanisms of asymptomatic parasitemia and clinical immunity, and to discover
biosignatures of clinically immune (asymptomatic parasitemia) vs non-immune (acute, symptomatic
malaria). Our long-term goal is to develop the scientific underpinnings of novel elimination strategies to be
deployed in Amazonia, with broad generalizability to other malaria-endemic regions. This proposed Center
therefore takes on a comprehensive approach to malaria research in the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon,
which will be used to inform Ministries of Health in Brazil and Peru, and officials of the Pan American Health
Organization and the Amazonian Malaria Initiative, of new approaches to develop malaria elimination
policies based on scientific data.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9911980
- **Project number:** 5U19AI089681-12
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Joseph M. Vinetz
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $1,366,776
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2010-07-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9911980

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9911980, Amazonian Center of Excellence in Malaria Research (5U19AI089681-12). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9911980. Licensed CC0.

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