Last Updated: 24/07/2017
In vitro culture of blood-stage Plasmodium vivax parasites
Objectives
The are several biological obstacles in the realization of continuous P. vivax culture, therefore the main objective of the project is to address this situation.
This objective will be achieved through:
- Generate a continuous in vitro culture of reticulocytes for P. vivax.
- Optimize culture medium and conditions to facilitate the culture of P.vivax strains, with different phenotypic properties.
The ability to propagate P. vivax in vitro at scale is a prerequisite for many biological studies and for effective high throughput screening or vaccine development programs. Although progress has been made, no continuous culture system currently exists.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), United States
Malaria resulting from infection with the Plasmodium vivax parasite remains a significant public health problem. Significant gaps remain in both our understanding of P. vivax biology and the development of drug and vaccine interventions. Effort has been made in pursuit of continuous in vitro culture of P. vivax. However, a clear continuous expansion of parasites in culture, and a scaling up of parasite numbers required for numerous biological studies and drug screening remains to be achieved. It appears that there are several biological obstacles to the realization of continuous P. vivax culture, including 1) the strong reticulocyte preference of P. vivax for invasion, 2) incomplete schizont maturation and egress and 3) optimal in vitro culturing conditions.
Nov 2010 — Oct 2016
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