Latest Plasmodium berghei Stories
Scientists at The University of Nottingham and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge have pin-pointed the 72 molecular switches that control the three key stages in the life cycle of the malaria parasite and have discovered that over a third of these switches can be disrupted in some way.Their research which has been funded by Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council (MRC) is a significant breakthrough in the search for cheap and effective vaccines and drugs to stop the...
The parasite that causes the most deadly strain of malaria in humans appears to have originally crossed the species barrier from gorillas, researchers reported on Wednesday.The scientists analyzed DNA from the droppings of some 3,000 gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos, and found that the strain of malaria parasite most common in humans is virtually identical to one of many strains that infect gorillas.Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and colleagues used the droppings to...
Scientists at the University of Arizona have achieved a breakthrough in the fight against malaria: a mosquito that can no longer give the disease to humansFor years, researchers worldwide have attempted to create genetically altered mosquitoes that cannot infect humans with malaria. Those efforts fell short because the mosquitoes still were capable of transmitting the disease-causing pathogen, only in lower numbers.Now for the first time, University of Arizona entomologists have succeeded in...
Findings could help inform new malaria control strategiesNew research published today (17 June) by scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) shows that malaria is tens of thousands of years older than previously thought. An international team, led by researchers at Imperial College London, have found that the potentially deadly tropical disease evolved alongside anatomically modern humans and moved with our ancestors as they migrated out of Africa...
Malaria, caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, remains one of the main causes of death worldwide. An international team of researchers lead by Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, IGC, scientist Carlos Penha-Gonçalves, has identified the first genetic risk factors for the development of cerebral malaria in Angolan children, a severe manifestation of malaria infection. These findings, just published in the journal Plos One (*), are the outcome of a study carried out at a pediatrics...
Fresh discoveries about the parasite that causes sleeping sickness could lead to new avenues of research into treatments for the disease.Scientists studying the parasite "“ which is spread by the tsetse fly and infects the blood of people and animals "“ have shed light on how it is able to survive when taken up by a feeding fly.Sleeping sickness is a potentially fatal condition which affects up to 70,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa, and millions more are at risk from the...
Scientists are making strides against cerebral malaria, a fatal form of malaria in children that can ravage the brain and is extremely difficult to treat. New research points to platelets "“ known for their role in blood clotting "“ as playing an important role in the disease, stimulating the immune system and turning on molecules that increase inflammation. The inflammation leads to the obstruction of blood vessels in the brain, causing brain damage similar to that seen with a stroke.The...
ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanaria Inc. has received additional support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health in the form of a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant. The three-year award totaling approximately $3 million will support collaborative research by investigators at Sanaria and Columbia University. This new funding extends previous NIAID supported efforts at Sanaria and Columbia...
Discovery could lead to new drugs for combating spread of deadly diseaseMalaria remains one of the most deadly infectious diseases. Yet, how Plasmodium, the malaria parasite, regulates its infectious cycle has remained an enigma despite decades of rigorous research.But now a team led by a cell biologist at the University of California, Riverside has identified a mechanism by which Plasmodium intensively replicates itself in human blood to spread the disease."If this mechanism can be...
Research could benefit disease controlBy unraveling the mysteries that exist within the molecular composition of mosquitoes, a team of Kansas State University researchers is trying to discover how the insects survive a parasite that causes malaria in humans.Kristin Michel, K-State assistant professor in the Division of Biology, has been leading studies involving Anopheles gambiae s.s. mosquitoes, which are the main contributing species to malaria transmission in Africa. Michel's research...
