News (Scientific)

Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, scientists have genetically engineered a method to reverse insecticide resistance. The gene replacement method offers a new way to fight deadly malaria spread and reduce the use of pesticides that protect valuable food crops.

Male mosquitoes beat their wings faster when swarming at sunset to better detect females and increase their chance of reproducing, finds a novel study.

Experts in Japan have identified a fundamental part of the immune system's long-term memory, providing a useful new detail in the pursuit to design better vaccines for diseases, ranging from COVID-19 to malaria.

With an impressive capability of drinking up to three times their body weight in a single blood meal, mosquitoes are formidable parasites. But to reach adulthood, mosquitoes need to be raised in environments where the temperatures are conducive to their breeding, growth and development.

Researchers have made a vital breakthrough in the understanding of a new facet of the immune response to malaria, which will help in the development of a vaccine.

Malaria, which kills more than 400,000 people annually, seems to have far outstripped COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa. Monoclonal antibodies could fill gaps left by even highly effective vaccines, but deployment is a challenge largely due to the amount of antibody currently required for infusion. Researchers have created a new best-in-class anti-malarial antibody with an approach that may allow them to create even more protective variants of anti-malarial monoclonal antibodies.

Scientists are turning to genomics to better understand the epidemiology of malaria and to inform control and elimination interventions and strategies. In the Lake Victoria region of Kenya, malaria burden remains very high despite more than a decade of intense control activities. A team of researchers generated whole Plasmodium falciparum genome sequences from the lake region. Their analyses revealed that malaria parasites from this region appear distinct from other parasites from East Africa, while frequencies of known drug resistance markers were similar to those in other East African parasite populations.

When you have become immune to malaria after having contracted the disease, it seems that the body uses a more efficient protection than if you have been vaccinated against the deadly disease. The researchers believe the new findings may be used to improve existing malaria vaccines.

Malaria, a pathogen transmitted into blood by mosquitoes in tropical climates, is typically thought of as a blood and liver infection. However researchers have detected antibodies primarily made in response to infections in the mucous membranes -- in such areas as the lungs, intestines, or vagina -- in study participants with malaria.

A discovery opens the door to the development of new drugs targeting malaria, one of the deadliest infectious diseases on the planet. The researcher teams performed a screen of soil bacteria extracts for antimalarials and identified an extremely potent inhibitor of malaria development.

Researchers have identified a chemical compound that may be suitable as an active agent against several different unicellular parasites. Among these are the pathogens that cause malaria and toxoplasmosis. The point of attack for this promising substance is the protein tubulin: It helps cells divide and therefore is essential for the multiplication of the parasites.

New research suggests that dengue -- a viral infection spread by mosquitos -- could be suppressed in Singapore in a highly cost-effective manner through the release of mosquitos infected with the bacterium Wolbachia.

Researchers can now detect brand new mutations in individual malaria parasites infecting humans. Such high resolution could help us understand how parasites develop drug resistance and evade immune responses, and suggest potential treatment targets.

Researchers have demonstrated that blood-seeking mosquitoes can be directed to feed on a toxic plant-based solution, which in turn kills them. This result could be one solution for the global problem of diseases like malaria or dengue fever by specifically targeting the mosquitoes while other species like bees won't be affected.

A major tool against malaria in Africa has been the use of rapid diagnostic tests, which have been part of the 'test-treat-track' strategy in Ethiopia, the second most-populated country in Africa. But researchers studying blood samples from more than 12,000 individuals in Ethiopia now estimate these tests missed nearly 10% of malaria cases caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the most common cause of malaria cases and deaths.

A common antibiotic has been found to reduce low birth weight and premature births, if taken during pregnancy, in countries where malaria is endemic, according to a research review.

A recent study led by an entomologist explores the different kinds of cells that make up mosquito immune systems. The research could shed light on how mosquitoes transmit malaria.

A gene called PfAP2-HS allows the malaria parasite to defend itself from adverse conditions in the host, including febrile temperatures, according to new research. The study resolves a long-standing question on how the parasite responds to changes in its environment.

One dose of a new monoclonal antibody prevented malaria for up to nine months in people who were exposed to the malaria parasite. The small, carefully monitored clinical trial is the first to demonstrate that a monoclonal antibody can prevent malaria in people.

Researchers have shown 'gene drive' technology, which spreads a genetic modification blocking female reproduction, works in natural-like settings.