Biography
Professor Ousmane Koïta is a molecular biologist and molecular parasitologist at the Université des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako (USTTB), Mali. He is the Founder and Director of the Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire Appliquée (LBMA), established in 2000 as a research and training centre working across health and agriculture.
His research has focused extensively on malaria and other infectious diseases, particularly the molecular biology and genomics of Plasmodium falciparum, malaria diagnosis, drug resistance, parasite diversity and the application of molecular and genomic tools to tropical-disease research. His work has also contributed to research on HIV/AIDS, emerging infections and laboratory-based public-health responses in Mali.
Professor Koïta has played an important role in strengthening molecular biology, tropical medicine and research capacity in Mali. Through LBMA, he has helped develop multidisciplinary research teams and laboratory infrastructure supporting training and research in parasitology, genomics, virology, zoonoses and related fields. He has also participated in long-standing international collaborations involving African, European and U.S. research institutions.
His contributions to tropical medicine have received international professional recognition, including involvement with the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) and its Distinguished International Fellow activities. His expertise in malaria, molecular parasitology, genomics and laboratory capacity building is particularly relevant to Liberia's priorities in malaria control, infectious-disease research, genomic surveillance and the development of young biomedical scientists.