Functional characterizations to model host-pathogen interactions during malaria transmission

Host competence in relation to infectious agents and vector-borne disease is one of mankind’s biggest challenges in today’s world where global warming is a fact and globetrotting is common practice. For the purpose of achieving the aim of this project the researcher will focus on the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which has a highly complex lifecycle and where transmission is strictly linked to sexual stage differentiation of a small subset of parasites called gametocytes. Gametocytes make their home and develop in the human bone marrow until they reach maturity, at which point they re-enter the blood stream ready to be taken up by a mosquito. Development in the mosquito includes fusion and zygote formation prior to traversal of the midgut wall. The researchers will adopt multiple methodologies such as complementary genome editing strategies and Spatial Transcriptomics to achieve the aims of this project. The resaercher team have recently generated several single-cell transcriptome data sets, which cover this entire developmental process both on the parasite and vector side. It is anticipated that the findings will greatly contribute to knowledge about genes and gene regulatory pathways relating to sexual cell fate and development in general and host-pathogen interactions during malaria transmission in particular

Project details

Genetics and Genomics

Jan 2022 — Dec 2025

$427,604

Sweden