Since 2000, my research programme has focused on antimalarial drug resistance (including P. falciparum and P. vivax parasites) in my different positions within the Institut Pasteur International Network, in Africa (Central African Republic, 2000-2004 and Madagascar, 2005-2008) or in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, 2010-2017). In Madagascar and Cambodia, I have carried out complementary studies based on molecular diagnostic strategies and field surveys, with the aim of improving our understanding of the epidemiological characteristics of malaria endemicity and helping policy makers to implement elimination plans. In particular, studies focusing on epidemiological links between human hosts and susceptibility to P. vivax malaria have shown that P. vivax in Madagascar causes blood-stage infection and clinical disease in Duffy-negative individuals. In Cambodia, my recent research on P. falciparum drug resistance has focused on the development of new in vitro assays to better characterise P. falciparum isolates resistant to artemisinin or piperaquine. My major achievements have been to demonstrate that mutations in the propeller domain of a kelch gene located on chromosome 13 (K13) and amplification of the plasmepsin II and III genes are major determinants of artemisinin and piperaquine resistance, respectively. The KARMA project, which I led, has provided a global mapping of K13 polymorphisms through an international collaborative effort.
From 2017 to 2021, I held a new position at the Institut Pasteur Paris as head of the Malaria Genetics and Resistance Group, hosted by the Biology of Host-Parasite Interactions Unit and later as head of the Malaria Genetics and Resistance Unit. Since September 2021, I have been appointed as Full Professor at the University of Strasbourg and Director of the Institute of Parasitology and Tropical Diseases (UR7292). Since 2023, I am visiting researcher in the Malaria Parasite Biology and Vaccines Unit, headed by Chetan Chitnis. My productivity is reflected in my publication record, with 231 articles published since my first paper in 1994. My H-index is 48 and Google scholar lists over 5,800 citations of my work (https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/O-3294-2013).
