Our Team

Helena Brazal Monzó is a PhD candidate in the group led by Alfredo Mayor within the GenMoz project, where she investigates Plasmodium falciparum infection and host immunological dynamics across gradients of malaria transmission intensity in Mozambique.

She holds a BSc in Biotechnology and an MSc in Control of Infectious Diseases, and her research focuses on combining epidemiology, molecular parasitology and immunology to better understand malaria transmission and host–parasite interactions.

Helena previously worked at the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia (MRCG), contributing to a clinical trial evaluating the effectiveness of field interventions to reduce dry-season malaria burden. Additionally, under Dr. Alfred Ngwa supervision, she characterised temporal shifts in antimalarial-resistance markers in P. falciparum, providing insights into drug-pressure dynamics in the region.

She also gained experience in Medical Entomology, performing morphological identification of Anopheles and Aedes mosquitoes, establishing and maintaining colonies for rearing, and conducting insecticide susceptibility trials to support vector-control research.

Helena later joined the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in Chris Drakeley’s group, where she worked with multiplex bead-based immunoassays to quantify immune markers associated with exposure to malaria, neglected tropical diseases, and SARS-CoV-2 for population-level surveillance and sero-epidemiological studies.

Her current doctoral work integrates these multidisciplinary skills, applying molecular diagnostics, quantitative serology, and statistical modelling to investigate how transmission intensity shapes parasite burden, genetic diversity of parasite populations, and host immune responses across diverse settings in Mozambique.