Research Grant
[Cite as https://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/143608]Researchers: Prof Brian Cooke (Principal investigator) , Prof Ross Coppel
Brief description Malaria is a serious disease that frequently kills its victim after a bout of high fever and coma. The most vicious form of malaria is caused by a minute parasite called Plasmodium falciparum that lives inside red blood cells. As these parasites grow, they make some dramatic renovations to their red blood cell home that make it become very stiff and sticky. Instead of flowing around the body like normal red blood cells, the infected cells become trapped in small veins and can no longer carry out their normal job. The ability of the parasite to make red blood cells stiff and sticky is what makes this type of malaria so dangerous, particularly when red cells get stuck in the brain. We plan to look at certain proteins that malaria parasites place on the walls of red blood cells because we think this is what makes them stiff and sticky. We hope this will help with the development of and urgently required ways to cure malaria.
Funding Amount $AUD 392,036.72
Funding Scheme NHMRC Project Grants
Notes Standard Project Grant
- nhmrc : 143608
- PURL : https://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/143608
