Sara recently attended CANARIES II in Bangkok, a scientific meeting unlike any other. For three days, researchers weren’t just presenting slides; they became “pirate scientists” united by a rebellious mission. Instead of death-by-PowerPoint, participants drew their markets with colored markers and stickers, visualizing the chaos of live animal trade from farm to table. Sara introduced …
We are delighted to welcome Sara Zufan as a postdoctoral researcher on the TrackFLU project. With a background in pathogen genomics, Sara brings extensive experience in sequencing and global health collaborations from her previous work with the US National Institutes of Health and US Department of Agriculture. Within TrackFLU, she will coordinate the logistics of …
As part of the TrackFLU project, we recently met with Alistair and Sokha from the Wildlife Conservation Society Cambodia to learn more about wild bird distribution and past avian influenza cases in the country. It was great to see that several initiatives are already in place to monitor wild bird presence and disease. We discussed …
Field activities for the TrackFLU cross-sectional study are well advanced, we have now reached our 7th province, and one last province to go. This first round of fieldwork is nearly complete! Over 10,000 samples from birds and the environment have been collected among 200 premises, including live bird markets, slaughterhouses and farms, and sent daily …
We are excited to announce the opening of the second position for the TrackFLU project! The position aims at identifying the factors influencing the evolution and emergence of avian influenza viruses in Cambodia and supporting the design of targeted mitigation strategies. The PhD candidate will be based in our epidesa research group (Toulouse, France) with frequent periods at …
It’s official, fieldwork for the TrackFLU project is now underway as of early January! We have kicked things off in Takeo province, where we are exploring a variety of poultry trading and production systems. This includes visits to live bird markets, poultry farms, storage and slaughter facilities, and even free-grazing flocks. Interviews with stakeholders, as …
This past week, our team conducted preliminary visits to five Cambodian provinces included in the TrackFLU project: Takeo, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Kampong Thom and Battambang. These visits were essential to select live bird markets and poultry farms for our upcoming cross-sectional study. The team included Malen Chan, Bastien Malinge, Sovath Rithyvong and Dr. Ren …
One of the goals of the project is to map the poultry trade network across the country and characterize the markets they pass through, as this can influence how avian influenza viruses evolve and spread. To achieve this, we developed questionnaires to track where poultry comes from and goes, and to describe market characteristics. This …
Bastien Malinge, our new PhD student, has just moved to Cambodia to kick off his research. In his first weeks, he visited the Orussey and Chbar Ampov live bird markets with Malen Chan (IPC) and Claire Guinat (INRAE) to get familiar with the local context. He has also met the epi and virology teams and …