Malaria Oxford University

Artemisinins are very poweful tools in the treatment of malaria, and the emerging loss of their activity has the potential to create a major public health problem. MALARIA TREATMENT

Dr Charlie Woodrow is based at MORU in Bangkok, Thailand, where he coordinates clinical and laboratory studies on resistance to artemisinins. Bringing together diverse datasets of clinical, in vitro and molecular data has helped better understand the emerging resistance, particularly in Myanmar. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Too high a dose can result in toxicity and side-effects, too low a dose can cause the illness to come back and at worse develop resistance. Professor Joel Tarning is Head of Clinical Pharmacology in our MORU Unit in Bangkok, Thailand. He's working towards drug dose-optimisation using novel pharmacometric modelling approaches. He is particularly interested in antimalarial treatments for children and pregnant women. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Professor Nick White talks about the future of artemisinin and other drug therapies for malaria. Malaria kills more than half a million people every year. Following a number of groundbreaking clinical trials, Professor Nick White and his Thailand team successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of artemisinin drug therapy for malaria in adults, children and infants. He also pioneered artemisinin combination therapy, the first-line treatment for malaria worldwide. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Dr Sumi Biswas talks about the development of a vaccine aimed at the mosquito stage of the malaria parasite cycle. Malaria transmission-blocking vaccines aim to induce immunity against the parasites that infect mosquitoes. Such vaccines will prevent malaria transmission on a wider scale, focusing on the community rather than the individual. Dr Sumi Biswas is working on the development of transmission-blocking vaccines to prevent the spread of malaria. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Dr Simon Draper tells us about his progress in malaria vaccine research. The malaria parasite is a 'master of disguise'. Whilst the development of a vaccine has proved difficult, targeting a pathway for the parasite has led to the neutralisation of all strains of Plasmodium falciparum. Dr Simon Draper's research interests include studies of vaccine-induced malaria immunity and trials of vaccine candidates. Focusing on translational medicine, his group will take their most promising vaccine candidates and manufacture them as clinical grade material; the next step is proof of concept clinical trials in healthy volunteers. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Dr Arturo Reyes-Sandoval tells us about his research on a vaccine against Plasmodium vivax. Plasmodium vivax, one of the four malaria parasites that affect humans, is difficult to eradicate due to its ability to lay dormant in the liver for long periods of time. This parasite is found in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Western Pacific. 40 percent of the world's population is exposed to the disease that is responsible for around 130 to 350 million clinical cases every year. Dr Arturo Reyes-Sandoval aims to develop a novel malaria vaccine against Plasmodium vivax. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/