Innovative Microarray Design to the Study of Bacterial Flora

Funded by the Hirzel Foundation, GESNOMA conducts research on the infectious disease of Noma. The main goal of GESNOMA is to understand the mechanisms and causes of noma with the aim to find an appropriate treatment.

Noma (cancrum oris) is a devastating, gangrenous disease leading to severe tissue destruction in the face and associated with high morbidity and mortality. It is observed almost exclusively in young children living in remote areas of developing countries, particularly Africa.

A research program has been initiated by GESNOMA out of Zinder (Niger) in collaboration with the "Sentinelles" association.

Our specific goal is to identify changes in the composition of the gingival bacterial flora during acute noma. Gingival samples collected from diseased children and matched controls will be analyzed using a dedicated high-density phylogenetic microarray. Built using an original bioinformatics strategy, such microarray analysis will spot changes in bacterial flora composition, by providing information up to the genus level, even for poorly characterized bacteria.

This innovative microarray design should prove instrumental to the study of bacterial flora changes under different conditions.

A Novel Microarray Design Strategy to Study Complex Bacterial Communities.
Huyghe A, Francois P, Charbonnier Y, Tangomo-Bento M, Bonetti EJ, Paster BJ, Bolivar I, Baratti-Mayer D, Pittet D, Schrenzel J; the Geneva Study Group on Noma (GESNOMA).
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2008 Mar;74(6):1876-85.
[Abstract] - [PubMed]

Noma: an "infectious" disease of unknown aetiology.
Baratti-Mayer D, Pittet B, Montandon D, Bolivar I, Bornand JE, Hugonnet S, Jaquinet A, Schrenzel J, Pittet D; Geneva Study Group on Noma.
Lancet Infect Dis. 2003 Jul;3(7):419-31. Review.
[Abstract] - [PubMed]