With an estimate of 400,000 new infections and up to one million deaths per year, malaria represents one of the most important infectious diseases in the developing world. The absence of a vaccine and the development of parasite resistance to commonly used antimalarial drugs underscore the urgency for new therapeutic approaches. The goal of our research is to define a novel line of defense and characterize innovative critical drug targets.
Our research focuses on developing biological and technological tools to dissect molecular events driving the malaria parasite infectious cycle. Using functional genomics approaches we expect to elucidate critical regulatory networks driving the parasite infectious cycle and identify novel therapeutic strategies.
We are applying innovative technologies to study the malaria parasite - technologies that were not even possible a few years ago. These techniques will help us the better understand the parasite life cycle progression and assist us in the identification of new ways to battle this devastating disease.
The techniques currently used in our laboratory are:
Our Recent Results:
Latest YouTube Video describing the Center for Disease Vector Research and our laboratory's recent work.