Over the next 5 years my team and I plan to study parasite invasion and blood cell enslavement to guide the design of better vaccines and medicines. Malaria as a deadly parasitic disease caused by large-scale infection of the body’s red blood cells. To design more effective vaccines and improved drugs to globally eliminate malaria we need to improve our understanding of how parasites infect and enslave our blood cells so they can grow rapidly and avoid our immune system.
Centre For Research Excellence In Malaria Elimination
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,470,291.00
Summary
The CRE will work to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination in our region, through Surveillance, to develop better ways to monitor malaria transmission and discover who is infected, and to track movement of malaria parasites and spread of drug resistance. Diagnosis, to develop and test new, more sensitive ways of detecting malaria. Treatment, to fast track development of new antimalarials, and improve access to ensure all infected people get highly effective drugs.
A Novel Approach To Identify The Specific Antibody Characteristics Important For Protection From Malaria In Pregnant Women
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,011,223.00
Summary
Antibody protects against malaria, but the specific characteristics of protective antibody are unknown. Pregnant women lack antibody to parasite protein called VAR2CSA, explaining their malaria susceptibility. Using samples from vaccine trials and clinical studies in pregnant women, and a ‘Systems Serology’ approach, we will determine which naturally-acquired or vaccine induced antibodies protect pregnant women from malaria, and how variation in VAR2CSA sequences affects this protection.
Surface Antigens Of Plasmodium Falciparum-infected Erythrocytes And Immunity To Malaria In Humans
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$599,180.00
Summary
Malaria is a leading cause of death globally, particularly among children. Malaria parasites infect red blood cells and multiply inside them, resulting in severe illness if left untreated. Effective treatments are limited and currently there is no vaccine. In human studies, we aim to identify the target antigens of immune responses and immune mechanisms that protect against malaria. With this knowledge, vaccines can be designed against malaria to prevent serious illness and death.
Development And Application Of Theoretical Models Of Plasmodium Transmission To Guide Malaria Elimination Efforts
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$315,401.00
Summary
There is currently a worldwide endeavour to eliminate malaria but there are few tools available to evaluate the impact of intervention strategies in the Asia-Pacific region. This project aims to address this deficiency by developing simulation models of Plasmodium vivax and mixed species infections, and using these new tools to investigate the likely impact of a variety of intervention strategies including bed nets, improved access to treatment and mass drug administration.
Signalling During Red Blood Cell Invasion By Plasmodium Falciparum
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$357,414.00
Summary
Malaria is one of the world's most devastating infectious diseases and is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium falciparum. AMA1 is a parasite surface protein crucial for blood cell invasion but how it works is not understood. We are investigating if AMA1 plays a role in helping the parasite sense when it has contacted a blood cell and should invade. Discovering how parasites attach to and invade bloods cells is a priority for the development of anti-parasite drugs and vaccines
Development Of A Glucose-6-phosphate Dehydrogenase/ Haemoglobin Point-of-care Test For Malaria Elimination
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$560,608.00
Summary
Malaria elimination requires the use of specific anti-malarial drugs that treat the dormant malaria parasites in the liver. The use of these drugs in people with a deficiency of the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) enzyme can lead to the catastrophic destruction of red blood cells and severe anaemia. There is a need for new G6PD diagnostic tests that can be delivered in remote, resource poor settings. This project will develop a G6PD point-of-care test to fast-track malaria elimination.
We will investigate malaria, a parasitic disease that kills over 630,000 people a year. We will explore the function of proteins responsible for cleaving and activating a cascade of proteins important in infection of humans and transmission of the parasite to mosquitoes. We will characterize the proteins involved in these critical events, as they are potential targets for drugs.
Functional Studies On Two Essential Rhoptry Proteins Of The Malaria Parasite
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$470,894.00
Summary
Malaria is one of the most important and deadly infectious diseases in the world, causing 250 million cases and nearly one million deaths each year. Traditionally, drugs and insecticides have been used to treat the disease and control its spread. They have become much less effective and there now exist untreatable cases of malaria. Alternative control measures are urgently needed. An understanding of how proteins essential to parasite survival operate may identify novel targets for therapeutic i ....Malaria is one of the most important and deadly infectious diseases in the world, causing 250 million cases and nearly one million deaths each year. Traditionally, drugs and insecticides have been used to treat the disease and control its spread. They have become much less effective and there now exist untreatable cases of malaria. Alternative control measures are urgently needed. An understanding of how proteins essential to parasite survival operate may identify novel targets for therapeutic intervention against this devastating disease.Read moreRead less