Validating glycosylation as a therapeutic target to prevent malaria transmission

Objectives

The parasites that cause malaria have unique proteins on their surface that are essential for infection of humans and mosquitoes. These proteins are useful for making vaccines to train the immune system to recognize and block malaria infection. The research team’s latest research has shown that these proteins are modified with sugars that enhance parasite virulence. This project aims at studying these modifications more closely to facilitate the development of improved malaria vaccines.