Vandana Thathy

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that by gene targeting in a rodent Plasmodium, TRAP is critical for sporozoite infection of the mosquito salivary glands and the rat liver, and is essential for sporzoite gliding motility in vitro, suggesting that in PlasModium sporozoites, and likely in other Apicomplexa, gliding locomotion and cell invasion have a common molecular basis.

TL;DR: The isolation of human monoclonal antibodies that recognize erythrocytes infected by different P. falciparum isolates and opsonize these cells by binding to members of the RIFIN family is reported, illustrating a novel mechanism of antibody diversification by interchromosomal DNA transposition and demonstrating the existence of conserved epitopes that may be suitable candidates for the development of a malaria vaccine.

TL;DR: A new release of curated genome variation data on 7,000 Plasmodium falciparum samples from MalariaGEN partner studies in 28 malaria-endemic countries aims to facilitate research into the evolutionary processes affecting malaria control and to accelerate development of the surveillance toolkit required for malaria elimination.

TL;DR: A stably transformed clonal line of Plasmodium berghei is constructed, PbFluspo, in which sporogonic and pre‐erythrocytic liver‐stage parasites are autonomously fluorescent, which should be useful for phenotypic studies in their respective hosts, as well as for identification of new genes expressed in these parasite stages.

TL;DR: The development of hDHFR as a second selectable marker will greatly expand the use of transformation technology in Plasmodium, enabling more extensive genetic manipulation and thus facilitating more comprehensive studies on the biology of the malaria parasite.