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.

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

Research on trypanosomes can open way for African sleeping sickness drug development

Trypanosomes are parasites responsible for many human and animal diseases, primarily in tropical climates. One disease these parasites cause, African sleeping sickness, results from the bite of infected tsetse flies, putting over 60 million Africans at risk in 36 sub-Saharan countries. The recent 1998-2001 sleeping sickness epidemics in South Sudan, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda killed tens of thousands of people and resulted in over a half million infected individuals.

31 Aug 2010

Scientists produce atlas of worm infection prevalence, distribution throughout Africa

On Tuesday at the 12th International Congress of Parasitology, a group of scientists, led by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, launched an online series of maps showing the distribution and prevalence of worm infections across Africa, Tropika.net reports (Chinnock, 8/17).

19 Aug 2010

Elsevier launches Malaria Nexus resource to benefit malaria researchers worldwide

Elsevier, the world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the launch of Malaria Nexus, Elsevier's Global Malaria Resource. Malaria Nexus highlights the latest published research in Malaria, utilizing Elsevier's leading journals in Parasitology, Entomology and Tropical Medicine, including The Lancet-, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and International Journal for Parasitology.

12 Aug 2010

Elsevier launches Global Malaria Resource

11 Aug 2010

Telormedix, Swiss TPH Institute collaborate to develop effective vaccines for Malaria, Buruli Ulcer

Telormedix, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company using targeted immunity to treat cancer and other diseases, today announced the start of a collaboration with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) on a pilot study using Telormedix's adjuvant, TMX-201, in connection with immunization for Malaria and Buruli Ulcer.

3 Aug 2010

NIAID announces $14M in first-year funding to establish 10 new malaria research centers

In an effort to accelerate the control of malaria and help eliminate it worldwide, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced approximately $14 million in first-year funding to establish 10 new malaria research centers around the world.

9 Jul 2010

New study shows CDPK1 controls toxoplasma's ability to secrete microneme proteins

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a parasite protein that has all the makings of a microbial glass jaw: it's essential, it's vulnerable and humans have nothing like it, meaning scientists can take pharmacological swings at it with minimal fear of collateral damage.

20 May 2010

Giardia's surface proteins may work as vaccines to help prevent infections: Research scholar

The intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia changes outfits nearly as often as a fashion model on a Parisian runway. With more than 200 protein coats in its molecular wardrobe, this troublesome creature-the cause of innumerable cases of diarrheal infections each year-can change its appearance from one instant to the next, throwing the body's immune cells off track.

12 May 2010

Researchers develop new diagnostic approach to fight against Chagas disease

Chagas disease is one of the most deadly parasitic diseases in the world. It affects more than 10 million people, primarily in the Americas. In South America alone it kills 50 000 people each year. A reliable and rapid diagnosis is the key in the battle against infection but until now, this has been next to impossible.

28 Apr 2010

News outlets continue malaria coverage

World Malaria Day was Sunday and news organizations continued to cover local events.