Nahla Gadalla knew very early on in her life that she would be taking on challenging and important work. “Growing up in Sudan, I knew I would become a scientist,” she said. “I liked science because it involved unravelling mysteries”.
Little did she know at that time that she would go on to one of the most important scientific puzzles in her country – why Plasmodium falciparum, a parasite responsible for malaria, has a high capacity to develop resistance to antimalarial drugs. In Sudan, malaria affects an estimated 300 000 to 400 000 people, including many children. Nahla embarked on her journey as a scientist at the University of Gezira in Medani, Sudan, where she obtained her undergraduate degree. Following this, she was accepted on an MSc course at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. |  Dr Nahla Gadalla |
Armed with her postgraduate degree, she returned to Sudan to work at the Tropical Medicine Research Institute where she coordinated clinical efficacy trials on artemether–lumefantrine in field stations in eastern Sudan (Gedarif and Kassala), recruited patients, supervised treatment schedules, and trained students in molecular techniques.
TDR support to become an independent scientist
After three years in Khartoum, Nahla received a grant from TDR to pursue further research in London. “The TDR grant allowed me to go to the United Kingdom where I gained not only technical expertise but also under the mentorship of Dr Colin Sutherland, I learned to become an independent scientist and initiate collaborations,” she said. Colin introduced her to various scientific communities such as the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) and the World Wide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN), where she led committees and study groups.
The PhD thesis she completed in London focused on candidate molecular markers of drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum and clinical response to artemether-lumefantrine in Eastern Sudan. “My thesis was a real eye opener for me,” she said. “I observed a novel genetic change in a drug resistance marker where part of the coding region of the gene was excised”, which provided another piece in the puzzle to help explain how the parasite responds to the drug.
I like unraveling mysteries.
One of the main challenges she and fellow researchers face is that the parasites “adapt very quickly to new drugs, and we are working as hard as we can to find out why”. Artemisinin Combination Therapies, or ACTs – the frontline treatments against P. falciparum malaria – are working well in many parts of the world, but there is serious concern that malaria parasites are once again developing widespread resistance to this vital treatment.
Nahla currently holds a post-doctoral training fellowship at the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research (LMVR) at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland in the United States, where she continues her research on the identification and surveillance of the molecular marker for lumefantrine resistance. This is an early warning system and an important tool for insights into drug resistance development.
Supporting the next generation of researchers
Nahla is consciously aware that mentorship and training the next generation is fundamental in research. “I continue to be involved in training and transferring skills and knowledge to a new generation of researchers in Sudan”, she said, and she leads the Biomedical Research Committee of the Sudanese American Medical Association to raise awareness of the significance of basic research among Sudanese physicians.
If she had a wish, other than finding a way to prevent Plasmodium falciparum developing resistance to drugs, it would be for her fellow researchers in Sudan to be able to benefit from the same lucky breaks and support she has enjoyed.
Editor’s note: There have been many Sudanese who have benefited from TDR support over its history. In 2016, a new grantee and expert network called TDR Global will be launched that provides the opportunity for people with past ties to TDR to be listed and to find each other by research area and location.
For more information, contact:
Makiko Kitamura
TDR Communications Officer
Telephone: +41 22 791 2926
email: kitamuram@who.int