Philip Awadalla Laboratory
Philip Awadalla - Malaria

> Research

Our research includes work relevant to all types of human diseases: genetic, immunological, infectious, chronic and cancer. Using genomic data from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), next-generation re-sequencing, and gene expression, along with modern statistical tools, we are able to locate genome regions that are associated with disease pathology and virulence as well as study the mechanisms that cause the mutations.

Philip Awadalla is PI and Director of the CARTaGENE Biobank project of Quebec; www.cartagene.qc.ca and is co-director of the Centre for Child Health Genomics at University of Montreal. This genomics platform supports our genomic data generation and assembly in the laboratory as well as in collaboration with clinicians and medical scientists from Canada and internationally.

Our ongoing projects include:

  • Next-generation sequencing and development of parametric and non-parametric population models/tools to study the role of rare genetic variants responsible for neurological and other disorders.
  • Implementing Bayesian models to interrogate genomes to capture de novo mutations in families or large genomic studies. 1000 Genomes Project. 
  • Genomic and Transcriptomic studies to capture and examine the impact of mutations and genomic rearrangements in childhood cancers. 
  • Studying recombination patterns from genomic data in human pedigrees : evolution and variation in recombination rates between populations, families and gametes.
  • Model-based approaches to examine the role of recombination in virulence-associated gene families in malaria as well as in human immune loci in Africa. 
  • Genetic and environmental determinants of febrile illness and community acquired bacteria syndrome in West and Central Africa
  • Molecular and statistical genomic epidemiology projects to examine the severity of sickle-cell disease in Africa. 
  • Complete genome sequencing of new and old-world isolates of Plasmodium falciparum and related species
  • Work examining genome-wide recombination rates and the emergence of drug resistance in malaria parasites. 

> Mission

Our mission is to use and develop novel genomic and statistical methods to identify the genetic and environmental control points associated with phenotypic variation, child-hood diseases in both industrialized and the developing world, and  chronic disorders in Canada.  Our analytical tools are applicable to studying both basic biological phenomena and problems of high clinical impact.