Recherche

Gabon is well known for its rich forest biodiversity that is sheltered by 13 national parks. The close proximity of humans to wild animals could enhance the emergence, reemergence and the spread of dangerous zoonotic diseases. Therefore, it is important to master the ecology of dangerous infectious diseases to better prepare and apply control measures. It is because of this that the Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Maladies Transmissible (LAEMAT) in French or the Laboratory for Ecology of Transmissible Diseases in English was created in 2022 in the campus of ULN to conduct research on the ecology of transmissible diseases in Gabon and the Central African sub-region. The LAEMAT has the infrastructural capacity and well trained staff capable of hosting projects and the supervision of 5 students every academic year. Our research group is currently working on the following diseases: arboviruses, malaria, trypanosomiasis, loaisis, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, tick-borne diseases. We are also interested in foot-and-mouth disease and other veterinary public health zoonotic diseases such as brucellosis and tuberculosis. We also focus our research on the ecology and vector roles of some insects of medical and zoonotic importance such: tsetse flies, ticks, mosquitoes, simulium blackflies, tabanids, and stomoxys. We are currently developing novel, cheap and easy-to-use traps to fight against these target insect-groups. Other important avenues for research collaboration are testing of insecticides in the field and laboratory (reared insects) and drugs using laboratory animals (Mus musculus).