Anna COHUET

Information

Scientific interests and projects

I have special interest in the ecology of malaria transmission and I have been working on the genetic and environmental determinants of vectorial capacity and competence in malaria vectors, especially focusing on the An. gambiae - P. falciparum system. An ongoing effort in my group is to account for the natural diversity of vector mosquitoes-malaria parasite associations and to perform experiments in conditions that reflect nature as much as possible. I currently develop my field research projects in Burkina Faso on transmission-blocking interventions and on the behavioral effect of infection in interactions with malaria control tools. I lead the MoMa team (Mosquito-Malaria interactions), which is composed of 5 other permanent members and postdocs and students.

We believe that malaria transmission is best studied through a variety of means combining the relevance of the field and the power of model systems. Therefore, we have developed platforms in Cameroon and Burkina Faso for experimental infection of mosquito vectors by P. falciparum isolates collected from naturally infected patients. For instance, such facilities allow measuring the efficacy of transmission-blocking interventions. Mosquitoes can also be exposed to specific environmental conditions, including exposition to insecticides for measuring their effect, or the insect can be fed before and after a drug treatment by the patient.

In addition, an avian malaria system ( Plasmodium relictum - Culex pipiens ) was developed in Montpellier, which could be especially useful to overcome ethical or technical limitations specific to the inclusion of human patients. Recognising the power of genomics, we are in the midst of adapting our current enquiry methods to the genomics era. We have described the use of single cell transcriptomics directly in parasites from naturally infected carriers, which opens the possibility of studying disease and transmission relevant phenotypes directly in infected patients and bridge the gap between lab and field investigations. We therefore have a rich field and lab experimental scope through which many aspects of malaria biology could be studied within new collaborations.

Top 5 publications of the last 5 years

1. Carrasco D, Lefèvre T, Moiroux N, Pennetier C, Chandre F, Cohuet A. Behavioural adaptations of mosquito vectors to insecticide control. Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2019 Aug;34:48-54. DOI 10.1016/j.cois.2019.03.005.

2. Mulatier M, Camara S, Koffi A, Carrasco D, Porciani A, Chandre F, Moiroux N, Lefevre T, Dabiré R, Assi S, Ahoua Alou LP, Dormont L, Pennetier C, Cohuet A. Efficacy of vector control tools against malaria-infected mosquitoes. Sci Rep. 2019 Apr 30;9(1):6664. DOI 10.1038/s41598-019-43195-6.

3. Stone WJR, Campo JJ, Ouédraogo AL, Meerstein-Kessel L, Morlais I, Da D, Cohuet A, et al. Unravelling the immune signature of Plasmodium falciparum transmission-reducing immunity. Nature communications 2018 Feb 8;9(1):558.) DOI 10.1038/s41467-017-02646-2

4. Alout H, Roche B, Dabiré RK, Cohuet A. Consequences of insecticide resistance on malaria transmission. PLoS Pathog. 2017 Sep 7;13(9):e1006499. DOI 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006499

5. Churcher TS, Trape JF, Cohuet A: Human-to-mosquito transmission efficiency increases as malaria is controlled. Nature communications 2015, 6:6054. 10.1038/ncomms7054