Dr Amal Gadalla

Research Associate

Email:: gadallaa1@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone:: +44 (0)29 2251 0786
Location:: 5th floor, Neuadd Meirionnydd, Ysbyty Athrofaol Cymru, Parc y Mynydd Bychan, Caerdydd, CF14 4YS

: Ar gael fel goruchwyliwr ôl-raddedig

I am newly appointed research associate at the Division of Population Medicine. My wide research interest is dynamics, transmission and control of infectious diseases using bioinformatics and statistical modelling tools. I have particular research interest in drug resistance. I am currently investigating immunological markers as predictors for uncomplicated urinary tract infections in females. Also I will be working on aspects of antimicrobial resistance in common bacterial infections in primary care setting using anonymized and linked routine data available from resources such as Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL), Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Biobank and Datastore.

My academic background is microbiology, molecular biology and epidemiology and I am very interested in bioinformatics and statistical analyses, specially modelling and machine learning classification methods.

I am very keen to network with people with similar interest/experience.

Qualifications

2015 – PhD Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Thesis title: "Influence of season, drug resistance, genetic complexity and anti-malarials on persistence and transmission of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum"
2008 – MSc Biomedical Sciences (Immunology), Sudan Academy for Sciences, Khartoum, Sudan. Thesis title: "IgG profile against MSP3 antigen in asymptomatic carriers of Plasmodium falciparum in Eastern Sudan"
2004 – BSc (1st Class Honours) Medical Laboratory Sciences (major Microbiology), Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Gezira, Sudan.

Career

2016 - 2017 Technical expert,International Atomic Energy Agency, mission to Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
2014 - 2016 Research fellow, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
2004 - 2010. Researcher, Tropical Medicine Research Institute, National Centre for Research, Khartoum, Sudan.

Previous projects

Diversity and transmission potential of imported malaria to malaria-free countries, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
Theileria parasite in Oman, molecular biology and disease, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
Identification of Plasmodium falciparum early gametocyte-specific expression in natural infections. Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. In collaboration with University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Queensland, Australia and Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy.
Validation of the use of isotope-based molecular techniques in malaria control. Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Khartoum, Sudan.
Molecular genetics of P. falciparum isolates in Sudan: Gametocytaemia and drug resistance markers. Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Khartoum, Sudan

Anrhydeddau a Dyfarniadau

2017 - Jamal Elnefeidi Award for Research on Malaria, Sudan
2016 – American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Travel Award
2016 – European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme (CPP) Fellowship Travel Award
2016 – British Society of Parasitology Spring Meeting Travel Award
2013 – 6th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Pan-African Malaria Conference Travel Award
2012 – Training fellowship award. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
2010 – PhD scholarship, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
2007 – MSc scholarship, Sudan Academy for Sciences, Khartoum, Sudan

Aelodaethau proffesiynol

International Society of Infectious Diseases, member
SM Tropical Medicine Journal, member of the Editorial Board
British Society of Parasitology, member

Ymrwymiadau siarad cyhoeddus

Conferences

Amal Gadalla, Ryan Farid, Pietro Alano, Joanne Thompson, Giulia Siciliano, Lisa Ranford-Cartwright, James McCarthy and Hamza Babiker Early and late P. falciparum gametocyte-specific transcription following treatment with Chloroquine and Sulphadoxine/ Pyrimethamine. Poster Presentation. American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 13-17 November 2016, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Amal Gadalla, Thomas Churcher, Elkhansaa Nassir, Abdel-Muhsin A Abdel-Muhsin and Hamza Babiker. Within-host growth advantage of wild-genotype over drug resistance genotypes of Plasmodium falciparum in absence of therapy. Oral Presentation. 12th Annual BioMalPar I EVIMalaR Conference: Biology and Pathology of the Malaria Parasite 18 - 20 May 2016, EMBL Advanced Training Centre, Heidelberg, Germany.
Amal Gadalla, Petra Schneider, Sarah Reece and Hamza Babiker. Impact of season and drug resistance on P. falciparum transmission: insights into optimized malaria control. Oral Presentation. British Society of Parasitology, Spring Meeting, 11-13 April 2016, London. UK.
Amal Gadalla, Petra Schneider, Elkhansaa Nassir, Abdel-Muhsin A Abdel-Muhsin, Thomas Churcher, Sarah Reece and Hamza Babiker. Gametocytes and multiple-clone carriage among long lasting asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum carriers in absence of therapy. Oral Presentation. 6th MIM Pan-African Malaria Conference, 6 – 11 October 2013, Durban, South Africa.
Amal Gadalla, Petra Schneider, Elkhansaa Nassir, Abdel-Muhsin A Abdel-Muhsin, Sarah Reece and Hamza Babiker. Gametocytes and multiple-clone carriage among long lasting asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum falciparum carriers in absence of therapy. Oral Presentation. 9th Annual BioMalPar I EVIMalaR Conference: Biology and Pathology of the Malaria Parasite 13 - 15 May 2013, EMBL Advanced Training Centre, Heidelberg, Germany.
Amal Gadalla, Petra Schneider, Sarah Reece and Hamza Babiker. Factors influencing gametocytogenesis of Plasmodium falciparum. Poster Presentation British Society of Parasitology meeting, Glasgow, 02-05 April 2012.
Amal Gadalla, Salah Eldin Al-zaki, Nahla Gadalla, Izdihar Mukhtar, Tellal Ageep, Fathi A Mansour, Moawia Mukhtar and Badria El-Sayed. IgG profile against MSP3 antigen in asymptomatic carriers of Plasmodium falciparum in eastern Sudan. Poster Presentation. 13th International Congress of Infectious Diseases, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 19 – 22 June 2008. http://www.isid.org/publications/ICID_Archive.shtml.

Media interviews

Malaria Season: Q&A With Amal Gadalla. 2017. Global Health NOW. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.https://www.globalhealthnow.org/2017-01/malaria-season-qa-amal-gadalla?utm_source=Global+Health+NOW+Main+List&utm_campaign=3b9bce0ed9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_01_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8d0d062dbd-3b9bce0ed9-860291
Radio interview highlighting the publication on seasonal gametocytes dynamic and its relevance to malaria epidemics in Sudan, 22 January 2017, Fakhr Beladi Program (Pride of My Country), Fakhr Beladi Broadcast, Khartoum, Sudan.

My current research focuses on:

Antimicrobial resistance
Urinary tract infection
Biomarkers
Chronic obstructive respiratory disease

Prosiectau ymchwil ôl-raddedig

Research supervision:

2015 - 2016 PhD laboratory experiments mentor, Hoyam Awad, Identification of sexual stage-specific expression in Theileria parasites in Oman. Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
2015 - MSc project and thesis co-supervision, Ameera Al-Fahdi, Detection and phylogenetic characterization of Theileria parasites in Oman. Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
2015 - MD research project co-supervision, Khawther Al-Jasassi, Comparison between three molecular methods for detection of imported asymptomatic malaria in Oman. Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
2013 - MSc project laboratory experiments mentor, Iman Al- Saidi, Effect of sleep-deprivation and obstructive sleep apnea on cytokine level, neutrophil function and proliferative potential of lymphocyte population. Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.

People