October 2006 Report
Summary:
October was marked by a brisk hive of activities on both site construction and research fronts. New professional staff joined MIAM, including a Laboratory Scientist, Taida Kumwenda and an Entomologist, Musapa Mulenga, who was recruited and sent to Hopkins for training. Staff houses A and B, as well as the West duplex flat, were made ready for occupation while the East duplex was being finalized. By month end, the Maintenance and Construction Manager, Mr. Douglas Haadinke, and the Laboratory Scientist had moved into their staff houses (A and B).
Dry season malaria surveys for the geographical and demographic reconnaissance project were conducted in the designated field sites. Meanwhile, high throughput genotyping proceeded apace in the MIAM labs, for the National Malaria Control Centre sentinel drug efficacy monitoring programme. Assays for the P. falciparum fitness project were also running simultaneously. The continual high throughput capability was made possible by the online UPS units and the new Thermo-Electron multi-block satellite PCR system
I - General Site Development and Maintenance
There was a hub of construction and developmental activity on the campus site. The site grounds persons continued to maintain the tidy and natural upkeep which blended well with the general vegetation bloom in anticipation of the imminent rainy season. The site generator seldom ran in October as the national grid power supply was relatively steady.
II - Construction of Buildings
There was a remarkable effort in the campus site constructions, culminating in staff houses A and B and the West duplex flat being ready for occupation (see Fig 1 in "Pictures"). By the end of the month, the Laboratory Scientist, Taida Kumwenda, and the Maintenance and Transport Manager, Douglas Haadinke, were able to occupy their staff houses. The East duplex flat was being finalized for internal fitments while building of staff house C was just past the ring beam level (see Fig 2 in "Pictures"). A hive of construction activity was also forming on the dormitory site. Thousands of bricks had to be hauled up to this site (see Fig 3 in "Pictures") before the rainy season set in, since the moulding places were located across rivers and streams. The dormitory foundation was dug out and preparations were under way to start building (see Fig 4 in "Pictures").
The electrical phases to the lab were extended and plans were made to work on the wiring connections in the building. These would separate power supply to the freezers from sensitive laboratory equipment.
III - Information Technology
Internet access was available throughout the month. However, there were interruptions towards month-end as a team of experts were working on a billing system. MIAM end-users had to be issued temporary login access codes to minimize disturbance on work during the period of system "tweaking".
IV - Vehicles/Transport
The 2.8D Toyota hilux was extensively used for field trips, as malaria screening for the geographical and demographic reconnaissance project was being carried out. The FUSO Fighter lorry continued to run as it was being continually used on the building programme. Trips to ferry bricks from the moulding contractors, as well as sand and gravel, proceeded apace, for completion before onset of the rainy season. Choma and Lusaka trips for building supplies purchase were also undertaken. The Condor was also running well taking the Whirlpool ice machine to Lusaka as Dr. and Mrs. Thuma left for the USA, and ferrying back Sue and Peter Penno, who arrived from the USA in the last week of October. The Maintenance and Transport Manager identified and fixed a small dent on the front fender, which did not appear associated with any trip.
V - Research Activities
During the reporting period, dry season malaria field surveys were carried out. With a shortage of drivers, Mr. Haadinke was extremely helpful as he chipped in at a busy time with numerous local and longer destination errands to Choma and Lusaka. Laboratory work was intense. DNA extractions and molecular genotyping of hundreds of P. falciparum samples from the NMCC sentinel drug efficacy surveillance programme tested the high throughput capacity of the lab. With former electric brown-outs eliminated by the online UPS, the Thermo-Electron MBS in conjunction with the older two thermal cyclers provided such rapid PCR processing that the electrophoresis and manpower were the main bottleneck (see Fig 4 in "Pictures"). Fortunately, a higher capacity Owl Separation Systems electrophoresis unit that was purchased from the Fitness project arrived at month-end, removing the bottle-neck. The new lab scientist was also able to assume much of the work after relatively short training sessions. Trained volunteer high school graduates proved helpful with various data processing tasks (see Fig 5 in "Pictures").
While the drug efficacy genotyping was in progress, PCR assays for the P. falciparum fitness project were also under way. The first UNZA MSc student on a collaborative training programme with Johns Hopkins arrived for brief laboratory training attachment at MIAM. The student shall return later in the year to process samples in the lab for the dissertation.
Other research activities included data entry and processing and database set-up by the GIS Manager, who also frequently joined the field survey teams. Data recorded on Prof Kumar and Dr LeBlanc's Immune Responses study by the CHW's and EHT at Chitongo were collected, scanned and emailed off by Mr. Petros Moono, upon his return from brief sick-leave.
VI - Personnel
VII - Other
A delegation from Norvatis made a tour of the hospital and MIAM labs before holding a planning session with Dr Janneke and other clinical project staff of MIAM.