Dr Aissatou Toure is a researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar initially trained as Doctor
in Pharmacy biologist. She heads the Unit of Immunology and conducts research in the
area of malaria immunology studying the determinants of protection against malaria
infection with special focus on potential malaria vaccine candidates, studying seroepidemiological
tools that could reflect the level of malaria transmission and the evolutions
of malaria epidemiology, studying functional assays that could reflect immune protection.
Dr Toure demonstrated that apoptosis represents a mechanism involved in the
physiopathology of malaria infection. She participated to the validation of some malaria
vaccine candidates.
Dr Toure and her team are studying and modelizing the impact on immune response of
different malaria control interventions using different tools as well as the impact on
parasite biology and on complexity of infections. One of their main interests at present is to explore the determinants of residual transmission and the detection of malaria parasite reservoirs as well as investigating
immunity to malaria gametocyte stages In parallel to her scientific activities, Dr. Toure has developed expertise in the domain of
bioethics and health research ethics. She is member of several national or international
ethics groups or committees and participated to different activities of capacity building in
ethics at the national level as well at the international level.
