Last Updated: 17/06/2026
Role of exported proteins in malaria parasite development in the liver
Objectives
This research aims to investigate how malaria parasites survive in liver cells, specifically focusing on the exported proteins involved in this process.
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), Australia
Each year over 250 million people contract malaria and over 1 million die. The key to the malaria parasite’s success is the ability to live inside host cells, including hepatocytes and erythrocytes. Here, we aim to determine how the malaria parasite lives within hepatocytes, to engineer mutant parasites that can no longer do so and to assess whether mutant parasites confer protection against future malaria. This program will use the most virulent human parasite P. falciparum and the rodent parasite P. berghei.
- · Article: Flp/FRT-mediated disruption of ptex150 and exp2 in Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites inhibits liver-stage development - [Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A, 2024]
- · Article: Inhibition of Plasmepsin V Activity Blocks Plasmodium falciparum Gametocytogenesis and Transmission to Mosquitoes - [Cell Rep, 2019]
- · Article: RhopH2 and RhopH3 export enables assembly of the RhopH complex on P. falciparum-infected erythrocyte membranes - [Commun Biol, 2022]
- · Article: Targeting the Extrinsic Pathway of Hepatocyte Apoptosis Promotes Clearance of Plasmodium Liver Infection - [Cell Rep, 2020]
- · Article: The vaccine candidate Liver Stage Antigen 3 is exported during Plasmodium falciparum infection and required for liver-stage development - [bioRxiv, 2026]
Jan 2013 — Dec 2015
$540,547
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