The infant stool microbiota and its association with wheezing illness in young South African children

Mamadou is a senior medical research officer within the Division of Medical Microbiology in the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences at the University of Cape Town. His research interests include the molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases and the study of the human microbiome in healthy and disease conditions. He is conducting a prospective longitudinal study on how the composition of the gastrointestinal microbial communities influences the development of respiratory diseases in 300 children, using advanced sequencing techniques. This study will contribute novel information to the understanding of the determinants and evolution of wheezing illness in young children in low- and middle-income countries. In addition, this study could influence interventions to enhance child health. Mamadou hopes to extend his research question beyond the microbial profiling by studying the functions provided by microbes for maintaining infant health.

This grant was awarded under the scheme's previous name of Training Fellowships in Public Health and Tropical Medicine.