A lab system to study Plasmodium vivax transmission and interactions with the vector

Malaria is a devastating disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which are transmitted between humans by the bites of mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. The 2013 report to the WHO estimated that 207 million cases and approximately 627 thousand deaths occurred in 2012 alone. In Latin America, more than 40% of cases occur in Brazil, in which this disease is considered one of the greatest diseases and a barrier to the sustainable development of certain regions. Malaria transmission in Brazil is almost exclusively restricted to the Amazon, and about 80% of cases are related to Plasmodium vivax. The most important vector in this region is Anopheles darlingi. Despite this, the reference genome of An. Darlingi, containing more than 10,000 genes, was published only last year; colonization of this mosquito in Peru has only now been achieved; and there is still no stable culture of P. vivax that produces gametocytes for mosquito infections, although efforts have been made. In this sense, today, the molecular interactions between P. vivax and An. Darlingi are largely unknown, especially due to the absence of a laboratory infection system for An. Darlingi-P. vivax.

Project details

Enabling Technologies & Assays
Measurement of Transmission
P. vivax

Feb 2015 — Jan 2017

Brazil