Current Research
The MRC is currently engaged in multiple research endeavours through collaborative partnerships with various national and international research institutes and centers. These collaborative initiatives encompass a range of projects aimed at advancing scientific knowledge and addressing critical issues.
The Dama Project
The Dama project, which stands for Data Analytics for Mycetoma Research Center, is a collaborative effort involving multiple institutions. It is working alongside the Mycetoma Research Center (MRC), the Comboni College of Science and Technology (CCST) in Khartoum, and researchers from the Institute of Reliable Embedded Systems and Communication Electronics (ivESK) of Offenburg University, Germany.
The project aims to initiate crucial groundwork in database management and data pre-processing. This foundational work is essential for laying the groundwork for future analyses and projects in mycetoma research. Through this collaborative endeavour, the team seeks to establish a solid framework that will facilitate comprehensive data analysis of more than 12,000 mycetoma patients managed at the MRC over the last three decades and drive advancements in understanding and combating mycetoma.
The project is funded by The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which has allocated funds from the German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt—AA) to bolster the ‘Ta’ziz Short-Term Measures’ initiative. This support demonstrates a commitment to fostering international cooperation and knowledge exchange, empowering collaborative efforts to enhance research, innovation, and capacity-building endeavours and contributing to advancements in the field of mycetoma research.
The Mycexomics Project
MycEXomics is a Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) funded research project which aims by combining academic and industrial expertise and resources to develop point-of-care diagnostics tools for the most common causative agents of Mycetoma. The project consortium has four collaborating partners from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences in Japan, The Mycetoma Research Centre (MRC) in Sudan, The Hospital General de México, Mexico and Erasmus University Medical Center, The Netherlands. The project budget is $285,937, and the first phase of the project [Concept Development] will run in the period 2020/04 and 2021/12. Read More
The diagnostics of early or latent eumycetoma: Search for new biomarkers, POC diagnostics, and development of a clinical epidemiology platform.
The Mycetoma Research Centre, University of Khartoum, had joined the International Collaborative Research Program for Tackling the Neglected Tropical Diseases Challenges in African Countries supported by AMED, Japan, with a project entitled Research on the diagnostics of early or latent eumycetoma: Search for new biomarkers, POC diagnostics, and development of a clinical epidemiology platform. The project has five partners, and these are the Department of Eco-Epidemiology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Japan; The Chemical Library Center, Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules, Nagoya University, Japan; the Management Unit of Microbiological Resources; Medical Mycology Research Center, Chiba University, Japan, Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, Japan and Mycetoma Research Centre, University of Khartoum, Sudan. The main objective of the project is to find new molecules for the point-of-care test for mycetoma. It is an ongoing project.
The development of a point-of-care diagnostic test for mycetoma in Africa
The Mycetoma Research Center was granted the Dioraphte Foundation Grant on Skin Neglected Tropical Diseases for a project entitled: The development of a point-of-care diagnostic test for mycetoma in Africa. The project has five collaborating centres, and these are Erasmus MC, Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Service de Parasitologie-Mycologie, UFR Sciences de la Santé, Université Gaston Berger, Saint Louis, Senegal, Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom, The Mycotic Diseases Branch at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA and the Mycetoma Research Center. The project aims to allow early diagnosis and treatment in rural areas and to develop a field-friendly Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) for the five most common mycetoma causative agents and their resistance markers. It will reduce the time to identification, which will lead to early diagnosis and appropriate treatment and make amputations obsolete. The proposal duration is three years.
The first-ever double-blind clinical trial on eumycetoma treatment.
In this unique project, 104 confirmed eumycetoma patients due to Madurella mycetomatis were enrolled. It is the first-ever double-blind clinical trial on eumycetoma treatment. The trial is a randomised, double-blind phase II proof-of-concept superiority trial of fosravuconazole 200 mg or 300 mg weekly dose versus itraconazole 400 mg daily dose, all three arms in combination with surgery in patients with eumycetoma in Sudan. The Drugs sponsor it for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), Geneva and Eisa Ltd., Japan Company. The study ended in 2022, and promising findings are to be published soon.
Spatial Epidemiology of Mycetoma in Sudan project
Still, there is a massive knowledge of Mycetoma epidemiology, disease distribution, and its incidence and prevalence. MRC conducted a collaborative research project with Brighton and Sussex Medical School, UK (BSMS), supported by the National Institute of Health Research, UK. The project targeted a mycetoma endemic region, the Eastern Sennar locality, Sennar State, Sudan. It was selected due to its high endemicity based on the MRC records. The study objectives are to determine the prevalence of mycetoma in the locality, the role of environmental risk factors in the disease occurrence, the population at risk, and the socioeconomic impact of the disease in the affected population. The project ended in 2023. Several publications were produced, and one PhD was awarded.
Mycetoma diagnosis and pathogenesis project
Mycetoma is a unique neglected tropical disease caused by a substantial number of microorganisms of fungal or bacterial origins. Identification of the causative organism and the disease extension are the first steps in the management of the affected patients and in predicting disease treatment outcome and prognosis. This project is a joint PhD program between the Mycetoma Research Center and Erasmus Medical Center, Department of Medical Microbiology, and Infectious Diseases. The project aims to validate the M. mycetomatis-specific PCR in a daily clinical setting and identify and characterisation the second most common causative agents in Sudan, the development of a multiplex-specific PCR for the most common causative agents of mycetoma in Sudan. Moreover, designing and validating M. mycetomatis-specific real-time PCR directly on grains to ensure rapid identification and reduction in diagnosis time. Several publications were published.
Metagenomic analysis of environmental samples from mycetoma endemic areas in Sudan project
Mycetoma is a distinctive neglected tropical disease caused by a significant number of microorganisms of fungal or bacterial origins. However, currently, the route of infection in Mycetoma is unclear. The project aims to study the soil-borne or thorn-prick-mediated theory of infection in this infection as well as the environmental factors roles in the disease transmission. This project is a joint project with the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
Identification of the Genomics and Metagenomics of Madurella mycetomatis, a causative agent of black grain mycetoma in Sudan
This is a joint project between the Mycetoma Research Center and the Centers for Diseases Control, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The study revealed more in-depth information on the Madurella mycetomatis, and the study results were published.
Arthropod vector in eumycetoma transmission in the endemic area project
The present project aimed to determine the possible role of arthropod vectors in the transmission of eumycetoma in an endemic area in the poor savanna belt in Eastern Sennar locality, Sennar State, Sudan. The results of the project were published.
Protein Biobank project
The project aims to establish a Protein Biobank at the MRC in collaboration with the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum. The material will be available for future protein identification and rapid Mycetoma test design.
The MRC Biobank Project
The MRC is establishing a biobank for the available biological material at the Centre. The material includes culture isolates, tissues, grains, sera, blood, and tissue blocks. With this system, this material will be handy and available for future research and collaboration with other research institutes and centres.
Development of a novel rapid, sensitive, and affordable point-of-care diagnostic test for eumycetoma project.
This project is sponsored by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in collaboration with the Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, and EL Azhari University. Its main objective is to design a point-of-care diagnostic test for Mycetoma.
The Immunopathology project
This project aims to study in depth the immunopathology of mycetoma, and that is in collaboration with the Infection and Inflammation Centre, York University, UK.
The Mycetoma Genetic project
In collaboration with Brighton and Sussex Medical School, UK (BSMS), supported by the National Institute of Health Research, the MRC is conducting a research project on the genetics of Mycetoma. The project examines the genetic background of Mycetoma patients in certain endemic areas in Sudan with the objective of bridging the knowledge gap in the susceptibility and resistance to Mycetoma.
The Social Impact of Mycetoma
As a joint PhD program between the MRC and Brighton and Sussex Medical School, UK (BSMS) supported by the National Institute of Health Research, UK, an in-depth study on the various social impacts of Mycetoma on patients, families, community, and health systems was conducted in Eastern Sennar, Sennar State. A PhD was awarded with several publications.