Championing Women Researchers
Dr. Jane Kagoli Maganga, MD, MPH
Dr Jane Kagoli Maganga is a medical doctor and researcher based at the Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit (MITU) in Mwanza, Tanzania.
research background
I have worked on studies of schistosomiasis epidemiology, prevention and control in rural areas of North-Western Tanzania since 2017. Initial studies focused on school children, who carry the highest burden of disease and are key in community transmission of schistosomiasis. In one of these studies, which sought to find effective strategies to identify persistent schistosome infections in children and their families in communities with low overall prevalence of schistosome infection, we showed that the adult female relatives of infected children also harbored infection and many had not received treatment in the past. Girls frequently drop out of school earlier than boys and therefore miss school-based praziquantel treatment. Schistosome infection in women cause major morbidity in the genital tract that is often refractory to praziquantel treatment. I have recently focused my research on this population.
CURRENT research activities
I am currently pursuing a PhD at Leiden University. My study focuses on the clinical and immunological aspects of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) in women of reproductive age in Northern Tanzania. I am investigating the effect of schistosome infection, particularly Schistosoma haematobium on the genital mucosal immune cell populations, the vaginal virome and the mechanisms through which this contributes to impaired host defence to genital tract infections, especially viral illnesses. Further, I am studying whether these changes resolve with praziquantel treatment. In this process, I have acquired new laboratory skills and learnt techniques including spectral flow cytometry and RNA sequencing.
future research activities
This current doctoral project has greatly enhanced my interest in immunology of parasitic diseases. I am looking into gaps and further opportunities for research in areas of interaction with viral infections such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Of interest to me also is the subject of immune responses to vaccines in relation to parasitic/helminthic infections. Vaccines have been found to confer sub- optimal protection in low-income regions compared to high-income regions and helminthic infections, among other factors, have been implicated. Interventions to treat infections prior to vaccination have seen some success but more understanding of mechanisms of parasitic immunomodulation is needed for insights in improving vaccine efficacy.