Prof. Allen Lewis Malisa

Allen Lewis Malisa (Ph.D.)

Associate Professor

Telephone: +255 713 633 288

E-mail: amalisa@sua.ac.tz

 

Prof. Allen Lewis Malisa is an Associate Professor at the Department of Biosciences, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Sokoine University of Agriculture, who has served in various managerial positions including founding Head of Department of Education (currently the School of Education), Head of Department of Biosciences and the Principal of the then Solomon Mahlangu College of Science and Education (currently the College of Natural and Applied Sciences). Malisa obtained his doctoral education at the Department of Veterinary Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (currently the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS) of the Sokoine University of Agriculture and the Department of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM, UK) in 2008. He received a Master of Veterinary Medicine and a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (currently CVMBS) in 2000 and 1996, respectively. Guided by the institution’s mandate, Malisa is involved in training, research, consultancy, and service delivery. He lectures on introductory cell biology and genetics, developmental biology, molecular genetics and biotechnology, and the environment in various undergraduate degree programs and molecular biology, environmental biotechnology, and advanced physiology in various postgraduate degree programs. Malisa has supervised 8 MSc. Students and over 60 undergraduate projects. He has published over 17 peer-reviewed scientific papers in refereed journals and 12 conference papers. His specific research interest is in the population genetics of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and he has been working on the problem of antimalarial drug resistance in Tanzania. The emergence and spread of drug resistance is a major threat to effective malaria treatment and there is growing interest in the development of a strategic drug-use policy that might ‘manage’ the process of resistance evolution and so prolong the useful life of drugs. His research group (see no 2 and 3 below), investigates the molecular genetic basis of drug resistance using population genetic approaches. They aim to determine which factors are most important in determining the rate of emergence and spread of resistance. Their work includes the evaluation of combination therapy and its potential for slowing resistance evolution and evaluating the selective pressure applied by intermittent preventive treatment. They are also mapping the dispersal of resistance mutations in Africa.

 

Research

  1. Use of conserved mitochondrial DNA Markers for Bushmeat identification; Investigators: Allen Malisa and Benezeth Mutayoba; Collaborators: Sam Wasser and Clinton Epps (University of Washington, Seattle, USA).
  2. Population genetic analysis of drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum; Collaborators: Cally Roper, Richard Pearce (LSHTM, UK), Brian Sharp (South African MRC, Durban), Salim Abdulla & Hassan MShinda (IHI: Ifakara and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania), Patrick Katchur (CDC Malaria Program, Dar es Salaam), Peter Bloland (CDC, Atlanta, USA), Karen Barnes (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Chris Drakeley & Daniel Chandramohan (LSHTM), Frank Mosha (JMP, Moshi, Tanzania), Tim Anderson & Shalini Nair (Dept of Genetics, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, Texas), Benezeth Mutayoba (FVM, SUA); Hosting laboratories: IHRDC biomedical lab and Cally Roper’s lab, LSHTM, UK.
  3. Evaluation of combination therapy: interdisciplinary monitoring project for antimalarial combination therapy in Tanzania (IMPACT-Tz); Collaborators: Cally Roper, Richard Pearce (LSHTM, UK), S. Patrick Kachur and Peter Bloland, (CDC, Atlanta, USA), Salim Abdulla and Hassan Mshinda, (IHI, Ifakara), Benezeth Mutayoba (FVM, SUA); Hosting laboratories: IHRDC biomedical lab and Cally Roper’s lab, LSHTM, UK.

 

Selected publications

  1. Malisa, A., Pearce, R., Abdulla, S., Mutayoba, B., Mshinda, H., Kachur, P., Bloland, P. and Roper, C. (2012) Quantification of Markers of Antimalarial Drug Resistance from an area of high malaria transmission: Comparing Frequency with Prevalence. African Journal of Biotechnology 11(69): 13250-13260.
  2. Malisa, A., Pearce, R. J., Abdulla, S., Mshinda, H., Kachur, P., Bloland, P. and Roper, C. (2010) Drug coverage in treatment of malaria and the consequences for resistance evolution-evidence from the use of sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine. Malaria Journal 2010, 9:190
  3. Malisa, A. and Nyaki, H. (2010) Prevalence and Constraints of Typhoid Fever and its control in an endemic area of Singida Region in Tanzania: Lessons for effective control of the disease. Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology 2(4): 93-99.
  4. Pearce, R., Pota, H., Evehe, M.B., El Hadj, Bâ ., Mombo-Ngoma, G., Malisa, A., Ord, R., Inojosa, W., Matondo, A., Diallo, D.A.,  Mbacham, W., van den Broek, I.V., Swarthout, T. D., Assefa, A., Dejene, S., Grobusch, M.P.,  Njie, F., Dunyo, S., Kweku, M., Owusu-Ageyi, S., Chandramohan, D., Bonnet, M., Guthmann, J-P ., Clarke, S., Barnes, K., Streat, E., Katokele, S. T., Uusiku, P., Agboghoroma, C.O.,  Elegba, O. Y., Cissé, B., A-Elbasit, I. E., Giha,  H. A., Kachur, P., Lynch, C., Rwakimari, J.,  Chanda, P.,  Hawela, M., Sharp, B. , Naidoo, I.,  Roper, C. (2009). Dispersal of drug-resistant dhps reveals regional migration patterns among African P. falciparum. Plos Biology 2009 6 (4): e1000055.
  5. Malisa, A. and Ndukai, M. (2009) Knowledge and practices on malaria and its control among pastoralists in Simanjiro District, Tanzania. Tanzania Journal of Health Research 11(4): 219-225.
  6. Kidima, W; Nkwengulila, G; Premji, Z; Malisa, A and Mshinda, H (2006) dhfr and dhps mutations in Plasmodium falciparum isolates from Mlandizi Kibaha: Association with clinical outcome. Tanzania Journal of Health Research 8(2): 50-55.
  7. Malisa, A.L, Gwakisa, P., Balthazary, S., Wasser, S.K. and Mutayoba, B.M (2006) The potential of mitochondrial DNA markers and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism for domestic and wild species identification. African Journal of Biotechnology 5(18): 1588-1593..