Deciphering Plasmodium biology

Maria Mota

Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, Lisboa, Portugal

Every minute, a child under the age of five dies from malaria, an infectious disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite transmitted by the bite of an Anopheles mosquito. The World Health Organisation aims to eradicate malaria by 2030, and although there was a significant reduction in incidence from 2000 to 2015, this progress has stagnated and 200 million people die from the infection every year.

Despite significant research efforts to develop a vaccine and drugs to treat the disease, the truth is that very little is still known about the biology of the parasite, which hinders the development of new intervention strategies. When Plasmodium enters the human body, it travels through the bloodstream to the liver, where it infects liver cells and produces another form of the parasite, the merozoites. In the liver cells, these parasites multiply at a high rate. They then return to the bloodstream and infect red blood cells, which burst after two or three days, infecting more red blood cells, and so on, causing anemia and organ damage. The amount of merozoite parasites generated in the liver is directly associated with the severity of malaria. Yet, how the parasite achieves this high rate of replication, a rather unique process, is not well understood.

This project aims to shed light on the Plasmodium replication process in the liver and its relationship with the virulence and progression of the disease.

Genetic variability in Plasmodium Liver Stage Schizogony

€499,999.50