Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite called Plasmodium - when infected mosquitoes bite the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells. Even though this potentially fatal disease can be prevented and cured, each year 350-500 million cases of malaria still occur worldwide, and over one million people die, most of them young children in Africa south of the Sahara, where one in every five (20%) childhood deaths is due to the effects of the disease.
Malaria is so common in Africa because a lack of resources and political instability have prevented the building of solid malaria control programs. Experts say an African child has on average between 1.6 and 5.4 episodes of malaria fever each year and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) as many as half of the world's population are at risk of malaria mainly in the world's poorest and most vulnerable countries and every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria.
Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, the CNRS, and the Collège de France researchers have employed paleogenomics to trace 10,000 years of human immune system evolution. They examined the genomes of over 2,800 individuals who lived in Europe over the past 10 millennia.
Researchers investigating the effects of an organic compound on drug-resistant bacteria found how it can impede and destroy a germ that causes significant illness or even death in some situations.
Plasmodium falciparum infections can result in placental malaria, which can have serious consequences for both mother and child. Nearly 200,000 newborn fatalities annually from placental malaria, primarily as a result of low birth weight, as well as 10,000 maternal deaths.
A naturally occurring substance known as hydroquinine has been discovered by researchers to have bacterial killing ability against a variety of pathogens.
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have definitively linked the function of a specific domain of proteins important in plant-microbe biology to a cancer trigger in humans, knowledge that had eluded scientists for decades.
As the efficiency of conventional antimalarial medications deteriorates, a novel approach to combating malaria that sees the disease turn against itself could provide a viable treatment for the hundreds of millions of people affected globally every year.
Researchers from Texas Biomedical Research Institute and Tulane University have created a new software device that makes analyzing genetic data about a host and its microbiome at the very same time simpler, quicker, and less expensive.
To celebrate National DNA Day 2022, we spoke to science communicator Professor Matthew Cobb.
CRISPR gene editing—a form of “molecular scissors”—was used by UNSW researchers to investigate how deletions in one section of the genome might impact the expression of surrounding genes.
Scientists have solved a 100-year-old mystery about the evolutionary links between malaria parasites that infect humans and chimpanzees.
Research from the Francis Crick Institute has revealed a key mechanism which increases tolerance to drugs amongst microbial communities.
Briefly blocking a key molecule when administering the only approved vaccine for tuberculosis vastly improves long-term protection against the devastating disease in mice, researchers from Texas Biomedical Research Institute report this week in the Journal of Immunology.
A protein that plays an important biological role in the malaria-causing parasite has been discovered by an international research team.
Scientists have uncovered a set of neurons in fruit flies that shut down in cold temperatures and slow reproduction, a system conserved in many insects, including mosquitoes, which could provide a target for pest control.
The enzyme DNA topoisomerase VI (topo VI) plays a vital role in eliminating chromosome tangles that arise in the cell nucleus of plants.
Non-neutralizing antibodies may also be crucial in giving protection against COVID-19, according to a recent study from Lund University in Sweden.
Male mosquitoes beat their wings faster when swarming at sunset to better detect females and increase their chance of reproducing, finds a novel study led by UCL scientists.
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have designed a high-quality assay that can be used in at-home tests for rapid COVID-19 screening.
According to psychologists, in addition to our physiological immune system, we also have a behavioral one: an unconscious code of conduct that helps us stay disease-free, including fear and avoidance of unfamiliar - and so possibly infected - people.
Scientists created an organoid biobank to investigate the genes that are vital for the spreading of a SARS-CoV-2 infection.