CIDRZ Masters & PhD Fellowships 2021 for African Students

Call for Applications for Masters (MSc) and Doctoral (PhD) Fellowships

CIDRZ Masters & PhD Fellowships

The Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) is a non-governmental research organisation working in partnership with the Ministry of Health and supports work across 300 health facilities in the country. It is renowned for its work in HIV and TB prevention, care, and treatment, as well as more recent work on vaccines and diarrhoea under the Enteric disease and Vaccines development research unit (EDVRU). The unit provides a platform for state-of-the-art technologies and research support environment (i.e. research methodology and analyses) which can be utilized effectively for vaccine discovery, and early development and testing of clinical products including vaccine evaluation.

With funding from the European and Developing countries Clinical Trial Partnership, the EDVRU calls for applications for the award of an MSc and PhD by research from suitably qualified individuals. Qualified individuals will be required to be registered with a recognised university.

Study Title: A Phase 3 double-blinded individually randomized placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a new all-in-one formulation of oral inactivated ETEC Vaccine (ETVAX®) in children 6 to 18 months of age in Zambia.

Project Summary:

Diarrhea is one (1) of the top five (5) leading causes of death among children below the age of five years, globally. It is estimated that one in ten deaths in children under five is attributed to diarrhea. Enterotoxigenic E.coli (ETEC) is one of the major causative agents of moderate-to-severe (MSD) diarrhea among children both globally and locally in Zambia.

Therefore, this project focuses on evaluating an oral ETEC vaccine called ETVAX® in a Phase 3 field efficacy trial against ETEC-associated diarrhoea in Zambia. The primary objective of the phase 3 trial is to evaluate the safety of a new all-in-one formulation of ETVAX® and determine vaccine efficacy in children aged 6 to 18 months. Prior to the Phase 3 trial a 12-month epidemiological surveillance study will be set up to determine diarrhea aetiology, calculate the incidence of MSD ETEC-associated diarrhea, and describe the frequency of ETEC colonization factors and enterotoxin types in children under 3 years old in Zambia.

Research Questions: The following are the research questions that this study seeks to answer:

What is the incidence of MSD with confirmed ETEC aetiology in children under three years old in Zambia?
What are the prevalent colonization toxins and factors (CFs) in diarrhoeagenic isolates of ETEC infections in children in Zambia?
What are the other common pathogens causing diarrhea in Zambian children?
What is the safety and efficacy of a new all-in-one formulation of oral inactivated ETEC Vaccine (ETVAX®) in children 6 to 18 months of age in Zambia.

Value of Award: Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

Ensure accurate collection of data, processing, and storage of study samples from study clinic to central lab
Set up and pilot study assays
Run all the study related assays
Analyze data
Participate in development of manuscript to submission
Other study related tasks as assigned by PI

Specific Deliverables:

Manuscript(s) for publication
Thesis for PhD/ MSc at a recognized university in the School of Biomedical Sciences

Duration of Award: This is a multi-site, surveillance, and randomized control trial which will run for 4 years at five health facilities in Lusaka. The surveillance system for both community and facility based passive case detection of MSD will be set up at George Clinic, Kanyama Hospital, Matero Hospital, Chainda Clinic and Chawama Hospital during the first 12-months of the project prior to commencement of the RCT.

How to Apply for CIDRZ Masters & PhD Fellowships

Interested applicants are required to submit the following documents

Two (2) paged summary of proposed research work to be undertaken during the PhD/MSc program
Current curriculum vitae
Recommendation letters from at least 2 academic and/or professional referees.

Applications should be sent with the subject line Applications for Masters (MSc) and Doctoral (PhD) Fellowships to Healthcorps@cidrz.org

For more information, visit the CIDRZ Masters & PhD Fellowships.

Application Deadline: 8^th July, 2020.