Molecular-epidemiological and -biological studies of malaria

• Research unit: TPH
• Project number: 2000-25

Key words (German)

Malaria, Plasmodium, molekulare Epidemiology, Molekularbiologie, Genotypisierung, Diversität, Infektion, Immunität

Key words (English)

genotyping, Plasmodium, malaria, genes, resistance, diversity

Short description (English)

Genotyping of malaria parasites has been carried out on a wide scale both in Basel and in the laboratories of our partner-organisation, the Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre in Tanzania. The results provide insights into topics such as parasite diversity and its effect on the development of immunity and on clinical illness; the development and spread of resistant malaria parasites, and the effects of various intervention strategies (vaccination, use of mosquito nets) on parasite diversity. Other studies are concerned with receptor-ligand interactions and analysis of var-genes.

Project aims (English)

To develop and use the tools of molecular biology and statistics to study the genetic diversity of malaria parasites and its effect on the course of infection and the development of immunity.