We will investigate malaria, a parasitic disease that kills over 2 million people a year. We will explore how the parasite identifies, invades and remodels the host cells in which it lives, scavenging nutrients and hiding from the immune system. We will characterize the proteins involved in these critical events, as they are potential targets for drugs and vaccines. We will study how parasites cause disease and how the host responds to infection.
Pathophysiology And Treatment Of Malaria In Our Region
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$951,005.00
Summary
Malaria continues to kill 420,000 people/year. I will lead a team of clinical scientists in identifying how each of the different malaria parasites cause damage to small blood vessels, kidneys and other organs, and will test whether two different drugs can improve these processes and reduce illness. Many of my previous research findings have changed malaria treatment in Australia and across SE Asia, and, where appropriate, I will use new research findings to improve treatments.
Malaria is a devastating disease of global significance. With mounting resistance to current drugs and no licensed malaria vaccine, there is a pressing need to search for new strategies to reduce the global burden of malaria. My research program aims to understand how the parasites that cause malaria extensively renovate the cells in which they reside and subvert their host so that they can thrive and survive, with a view to identifying new pathways that can be targeted by drugs or vaccines.
Dr. Ivo Mueller is global leader in the study of non-African malaria with a special focus on the SW Pacific and on P. vivax. His research at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute focuses on population-based studies of host-vector-parasite interactions and their effect on burden and transmission of different malaria parasites as well as improving treatment & prevention of malaria in children and pregnant mothers and thereby contributing to the development of new tools to control and eliminate malaria