Sophie Duraffour wins Science Award of the GSK Foundation

Dr. Duraffour published the results of the award-winning work in January 2019 in the prestigious Science journal under the title "Metagenomic sequencing at the epicenter of the Nigeria 2018 Lassa fever outbreak". In it, she and her co-authors describe the so-called metagenomic sequencing that they carried out during the Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria in 2018.

In its citation, the GSK Foundation praised Dr. Duraffour for using this method to gain important insights into how to successfully combat the outbreak. For example, the research team found that the Lassa virus strains in the samples were not directly related. This ruled out human-to-human spread from a single source of infection. Apparently, transmission of the viruses from rodents to humans caused the outbreak. This was important information for local authorities to control the outbreak.

In addition, the work led to advances in the field of molecular epidemiology. In particular, the jury emphasised the pioneering work Dr. Duraffour had done by carrying out elaborate sequencing in real time. This is because it enables portable rapid sequencing for unknown outbreak pathogens even under simple conditions directly in the outbreak area.

The award winner Dr Sophie Duraffour: "I am very honoured to receive this prestigious award. I thank the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation for this special recognition. At the same time, I would like to sincerely thank my team for their great collaboration and in particular Dr. Liana Kafetzopoulou who made this work possible."