Parasitology News and Research

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Parasitology is the study of organisms that gain nutrients and protection from their host, without any benefit to the host.

SCYNEXIS, MMV assemble Malaria Box of 400 compounds with antimalarial activity

In a bid to catalyse malaria and neglected disease drug discovery, MMV and SCYNEXIS, Inc. have assembled a Malaria Box of 400 carefully selected commercially available compounds with antimalarial activity and will provide it to researchers at no cost.

20 Dec 2011

Mutation on surface of human red blood cells provides protection against vivax malaria

A mutation on the surface of human red blood cells provides protection against malaria caused by the parasite Plasmodium vivax, research led by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine shows.

2 Dec 2011

Scientists solve mystery behind why people with defective hemoglobin do not contract malaria

Why do people with a hereditary mutation of the red blood pigment hemoglobin not contract severe malaria? Scientists in the group headed by Prof. Michael Lanzer of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Heidelberg University Hospital have now solved this mystery.

19 Nov 2011

Researchers discover new class of antimalarial compounds

Researchers have discovered a group of chemical compounds that might one day be developed into drugs that can treat malaria infection in both the liver and the bloodstream.

18 Nov 2011

Study reveals what causes lysosome to overflow in Batten disease

Waste management is a big issue anywhere, but at the cellular level it can be a matter of life and death. A Weizmann Institute study, published in the Journal of Cell Biology, has revealed what causes a molecular waste container in the cell to overflow in Batten disease, a rare but fatal neurodegenerative disorder that begins in childhood.

3 Nov 2011

New discoveries on drug resistance in Leishmania

Two remarkable discoveries were today revealed by researchers into genome analysis of Leishmania parasites. These results uncovered a surprising level of variation at the genome structure level.

28 Oct 2011

Burundi makes significant progress against NTDs

In this "End the Neglect" blog post, Alan Fenwick, director of the Schistosomaisis Control Initiative and professor of Tropical Parasitology at Imperial College in London, examines Burundi's progress in combating neglected tropical diseases.

28 Sep 2011

First effective blood-stage vaccine against malaria

Scientists have identified the first effective blood-stage malaria vaccine, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study from University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers, in collaboration with the University of Bamako in Mali, West Africa, and other partners.

15 Sep 2011

Entomologist to study how immune system responds to rickettsial infection

Summer for most people means time spent outdoors, which could also mean increased exposure to bugs and, possibly, arthropod-borne diseases, such as "rickettsial diseases" - infectious diseases spread by bacteria, which, generally, are transmitted by lice, fleas, ticks and mites.

5 Aug 2011

Researchers discover new tick-borne bacterium that causes ehrlichiosis in Wis., Minn.

A new tick-borne bacterium infecting humans with ehrlichiosis has been discovered in Wisconsin and Minnesota. It was identified as a new strain of bacteria through DNA testing conducted at Mayo Clinic.

4 Aug 2011

New open access journal dedicated to collaborations and cutting-edge research in parasitology

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, in association with the Australian Society for Parasitology, is pleased to announce the launch of a new journal, International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance. The new electronic open access journal is closely affiliated with the leading parasitology journal, International Journal for Parasitology, and will address a critical area of research, covering anti-parasite drug identification, development and evaluation, and parasite drug resistance. The journal's remit also includes research into natural products as anti-parasitic agents, and bioactive parasite products.

22 Jun 2011

Elsevier introduces new open-access journal on parasitology

22 Jun 2011

Lethal malaria parasite has biochemical weakness

Every year, 10,000 pregnant women and up to 200,000 newborn babies are killed by the malaria parasite. Doctors all around the globe have for years been looking in vain for a medical protection, and now researchers from the University of Copenhagen have found the biochemically weakness of the lethal malaria parasite, and will now start developing a vaccine to combat pregnancy related malaria.

8 Jun 2011

EPO doping drug can reduce cerebral malaria related deaths

Almost 3.3 billion people, half of the world's population, risk being infected with malaria. Despite having effective means against malaria, the WHO reports 250 million cases of malaria each year and more than 700,000 related deaths. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have now discovered that EPO, the doping drug known from professional cycling, can significantly reduce cerebral malaria related deaths.

22 Apr 2011

Discovery of cancer drugs to kill malaria parasite could open up new strategies for treatment

Ahead of World Malaria Day (25 April), EU-funded researchers have discovered that drugs originally designed to inhibit the growth of cancer cells can also kill the parasite that causes malaria. They believe this discovery could open up a new strategy for combating this deadly disease, which, according to World Health Organisation statistics, infected around 225 million and killed nearly 800 000 people worldwide in 2009.

21 Apr 2011

Scientist receives grant for research on parasitic diseases through African biodiversity medicines

McGill University and McGill University scientist Dr. Timothy Geary received a $1-million grant today for landmark research into addressing parasitic diseases through medicines derived from African biodiversity.

25 Jan 2011

MVI, Merck and NYU collaborate to research potential malaria vaccine

Development of a vaccine to prevent the malaria parasite from entering the human liver is the goal of a new collaboration announced today by global leaders in malaria research and vaccine development. The PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), Merck (known outside the US and Canada as MSD), and NYU Langone Medical Center are working together to evaluate an approach targeting a novel part of a major surface protein on the malaria parasite. Malaria is estimated to kill close to 900,000 people each year with the majority of deaths occurring in children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa.

14 Dec 2010

New collaboration to develop vaccine to prevent malaria parasite from entering human liver

14 Dec 2010

Worm eggs may heal ulcerative colitis: Research

A new study involving a man who swallowed worm eggs to relieve symptoms of ulcerative colitis sheds light on how worms promote healing in the intestine. The study, published today in Science Translational Medicine, also identifies potential targets for more conventional ways of treating colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease.

2 Dec 2010

Anacor, UCSF and NYBC collaborate to discover drug therapies for river blindness

Anacor Pharmaceuticals, the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Sandler Center and the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute (LFKRI) of the New York Blood Center (NYBC) today announced the establishment of a research and development collaboration to discover new drug therapies for the treatment of river blindness (onchocerciasis), a parasitic disease that is the second leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide, and is most prevalent in Africa.

1 Dec 2010