The Immunology Department’s primary objective is to research immunological consequences of communicable and non-communicable diseases of public health importance in Ghana, the African sub-region, and the world in general with the secondary objective of improving the quality of life for Ghanaians and the world at large through quality and world-class research.

As malaria continues to be the major health issue in Ghana, the Department over the years has concentrated on understanding the pathology associated with the disease including cerebral malaria, severe malaria anemia, pregnancy-associated malaria or placental malaria, and pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. The Department has also developed a strong immuno-genetic capacity for our efforts in understanding the pathologies associated with malaria infections. In addition to understanding the host-parasite interaction, the Department has been involved and collaborated with other international partners in identifying malaria vaccine candidates as our contribution to developing a potent vaccine against malaria. Some of the potential vaccine candidates we have been working on include, PfEMP-1-based vaccines specifically against Pregnancy-Associated malaria (VAR2_CSA), transmission-blocking vaccines, and T cell-based vaccines targeting liver-stage parasites as well as PfRh5 as a possible vaccine candidate. Also, the Department has been investigating co-infections of malaria with other diseases such as HIV, Schistosomiasis, Burkitt’s lymphomas, Diabetes, and hepatitis.