Plasmodium falciparum News and Research

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Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria can be improved, says researcher

Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria are simple, reliable and robust. But errors occur, through misuse or because they aren't designed for primitive circumstances. Researcher Philippe Gillet put them to the test and made a series of suggestions for improvement. It resulted in a PhD at the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp and Maastricht University.

22 Jun 2011

The Economist examines lack of attention to Plasmodium vivax malaria parasite

The Economist profiles Plasmodium vivax, a type of malaria that affects between 80 million to 390 million people worldwide annually with a cost to sufferers between $1.4 billion and $4 billion each year.

27 May 2011

PolyMedix presents new pre-clinical data on antimicrobial compounds at two scientific meetings

PolyMedix, Inc., an emerging biotechnology company focused on developing new therapeutic drugs to treat life-threatening infectious diseases and acute cardiovascular disorders, announced today that new pre-clinical data for its novel, defensin-mimetic antimicrobial compounds was recently presented at two prestigious scientific meetings, including the American Society of Microbiology.

25 May 2011

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher selected Fellow of the Royal Society

Internationally recognised malaria researcher Professor Alan Cowman from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, the UK's peak academy promoting excellence in science.

21 May 2011

Mosquito's midgut bacteria can inhibit malaria parasite development

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have identified a bacterium in field-caught mosquitoes that, when present, stops the development of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria in humans.

13 May 2011

Genetically modified mosquitoes tested to prevent spread of malaria: Study

According to the latest study in the journal Nature, researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Washington, Seattle found that after making specific genetic changes to a few mosquitoes and then allowing them to breed could eventually dramatically reduce the spread of the deadly disease malaria.

20 Apr 2011

Researchers test plants used in traditional African medicine against malaria

The malaria parasite has gradually developed resistance to the most commonly used medicines. To make matters worse, several mosquito species that host and transmit the parasite have become resistant to insecticides, making it difficult to eliminate them from populated areas.

8 Apr 2011

Study finds malaria as a serious problem for patients with landmine injuries

Malaria can complicate the course of disease in poor farmers with landmine injuries in underdeveloped countries, where both malaria and war injuries are frequent causes of illness and death. Tove Heger's doctoral research has charted the extent and effect of malaria on war-injured people and studied the potential for preventing them contracting the disease.

25 Mar 2011

Chemotherapy drugs also kill malaria parasite

A group of researchers from EPFL's Global Health Institute (GHI) and Inserm (Institut National de la Sant- et de la Recherche M-dicale, the French government agency for biomedical research) has discovered that a class of chemotherapy drugs originally designed to inhibit key signaling pathways in cancer cells also kills the parasite that causes malaria. The discovery could quickly open up a whole new strategy for combating this deadly disease.

9 Mar 2011

New insight into malaria

A group of researchers from EPFL's Global Health Institute and Inserm has discovered that a class of chemotherapy drugs originally designed to inhibit key signaling pathways in cancer cells also kills the parasite that causes malaria.

8 Mar 2011

Tropical seaweed's antifungal chemical cues may have promising antimalarial properties for humans

A group of chemical compounds used by a species of tropical seaweed to ward off fungus attacks may have promising antimalarial properties for humans. The compounds are part of a unique chemical signaling system that seaweeds use to battle enemies - and that may provide a wealth of potential new pharmaceutical compounds.

22 Feb 2011

Liquidia to explore PRINT particle technology with PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative

Liquidia Technologies today announced a collaboration with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) to explore the use of the company's PRINT® particle technology to design next generation malaria vaccines. PRINT technology offers unprecedented control of particle size, shape and chemistry in a highly consistent and scalable manufacturing process, and will be used to deliver a protein in combination with immune stimulating molecules.

10 Feb 2011

Gates Foundation awards USF $5.45M for malaria research

The University of South Florida received $5.45 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The first grant is to create advanced devices that mimic the human liver to better study the life cycle of the malaria parasite - particularly the elusive liver stage where the disease may be most vulnerable to attack.

9 Feb 2011

Newly identified mosquito subspecies highly susceptible to malaria parasite, prefers outdoors

"Researchers have discovered a previously unknown subspecies of mosquito in West Africa that is highly susceptible to the malaria parasite and whose existence may stymie efforts to eradicate the deadly disease," the Los Angeles Times reports (Khan, 2/4).

5 Feb 2011

Genocea announces close of $35 million Series B venture financing round

Genocea Biosciences Inc., a vaccine discovery and development company pioneering a new class of T cell-based vaccines, today announced that it has closed a $35 million Series B round of venture financing, with new investors Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC), Skyline Ventures and MP Healthcare Venture Management, Inc. (MPH) joining existing investors Polaris Venture Partners, Lux Capital Management, SR One, Cycad Group, Auriga Partners and Morningside Ventures.

3 Jan 2011

Researchers show how malaria parasites infect red blood cells, impede blood flow to organs

Although the incidence of malaria has declined in all but a few countries worldwide, according to a World Health Organization report earlier this month, malaria remains a global threat. Nearly 800,000 people succumbed to the mosquito-borne disease in 2009, nearly all of them in the developing world.

21 Dec 2010

WHO report shows significant progress in global malaria fight, highlights need for continued funding

Since 2008, global malaria control efforts have "helped reduce infections across Africa and [eliminate] the disease in Morocco and Turkmenistan, but a slowdown in funding risks undoing those achievements," according to the WHO's annual malaria report, which was released on Tuesday, Reuters reports (Nebehay, 12/14).

16 Dec 2010

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

Portugal research groups awarded Gates Foundation grants

Two research groups in Portugal are to receive Grand Challenges Exploration Grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. One of these research teams is led by Miguel Prud-ncio, at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM), and the other by Miguel Soares, at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ci-ncia (IGC) together with Henrique Silveira, at the Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT).

11 Nov 2010