Whole-genome sequencing of Leishmania infantum isolates to easily identify structural variations as biomarkers of pathogenicity and drug-resistance

Current diagnosis of Leishmania infantum only detects the presence of the parasite. There are no suitable biomarkers with prognostic value for pathogenicity or response to the pharmacological treatment.

With 2.5 million dogs diagnosed annually in Spain, France, Portugal, and Italy, the emergence of more pathogenic strains of Leishmania infantum with resistance to pharmacological treatments represents a threat in the One Health framework.

State-of-the-art long-reads sequencing and the bioinformatic analysis platform we are developing will allow Nano1Health to quickly and easily characterize the already known and yet to discover structural variations in the genome as biomarkers of pathogenicity and drug resistance.

Nano1Health will sequence the complete genome of Leishmania infantum isolates from different Mediterranean countries in the context of a NEOTEC project funded by CDTI.

The objective of the project is developing an agile and simple platform that allows the sequencing of the genome of Leishmania infantum and should help to:

1. To discover and identify biomarkers of pathogenicity and drug resistance in Leishmania infantum for veterinary clinicians and companies in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors.

2. Carrying out molecular epidemiology studies to compare Leishmania infantum strains of animals and human origin.

What we need?

Leishmania infantum isolates (minimum 5*107 promastigotes or amastigotes)

Leishmania infantum High Molecular Weight DNA (minimum 2 ug DNA – get in touch for the recommended DNA extraction method)

WHAT WE OFFER?

Joining an international consortium for the improved diagnostics of Leishmania infantum biomarkers for pathogenicity and drug-resistance