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Fellows

Dorcas Maruapula

SANTHE Post-doctoral Fellow


Botswana Harvard Health Partnership (BHP),
Gaborone, Botswana

Collaboration Interests
  • HIV drug resistance
  • Molecular virology
Supervisor
Simani Gaseitsiwe

Dorcas Maruapula focuses on HIV treatment and management research. She has over a decade of experience in HIV research, with a particular emphasis on HIV drug resistance.

Her research investigates how specific HIV drug resistance mutations influence treatment outcomes in people living with HIV, with the aim of improving therapeutic strategies and supporting more effective antiretroviral regimens. This work contributes to better clinical outcomes and improved quality of life for affected individuals.

In addition to her scientific research, she is committed to improving healthcare in low-resource settings by developing a cost-effective assay for HIV drug resistance testing. Her goal is to make HIV genotyping more accessible in resource-limited environments, enabling timely treatment decisions and reducing the risk of treatment failure and further resistance development.

Publications
Doravirine-associated resistance mutations in antiretroviral therapy naïve and experienced adults with HIV-1 subtype C infection in Botswana Low-frequency HIV-1 drug resistance mutations in antiretroviral naïve individuals in Botswana The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance HIV-1C in-House RNA-Based Genotyping Assay for Detection of Drug Resistance Mutations in Samples with Low-Level Viral Loads No Difference in the Prevalence of HIV-1 gag Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte-Associated Escape Mutations in Viral Sequences from Early and Late Parts of the HIV-1 Subtype C Pandemic in Botswana Prediction of Coreceptor Tropism in HIV-1 Subtype C in Botswana HIV-1 infection recency among individuals newly diagnosed with HIV in Greater Gaborone, Botswana Emergence of Omicron FN.1 a descendent of BQ.1.1 in Botswana Genomic epidemiology and immune escape of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant strains circulating in Botswana High prevalence of reverse transcriptase inhibitors associated resistance mutations among people living with HIV on dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy in Francistown, Botswana Low Prevalence of Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir Resistance-Associated Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 Lineages From Botswana Archived rilpivirine-associated resistance mutations among ART-naive and virologically suppressed people living with HIV-1 subtype C in Botswana: implications for cabotegravir/rilpivirine use Rapid dynamic changes of FL.2 variant: A case report of COVID-19 breakthrough infection Near‐complete genome of SARS‐CoV‐2 Delta variant of concern identified in a symptomatic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) in Botswana

SANTHE is an Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) flagship programme funded by the Science for Africa Foundation through the DELTAS Africa programme; the Gates Foundation; Gilead Sciences Inc.; and the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard.

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