New discovery paves way for next generation malaria vaccine

Researchers develop genetically attenuated parasite (GAP) that arrests late in the liver stage of human malaria In an unprecedented first, scientists at Seattle Children’s Research Institute have developed a genetically attenuated parasite (GAP) that arrests late in the liver stage of human malaria. Their findings published in JCI Insight pave the way for a novel, next generation vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes the deadliest form of malaria in humans. According to Dr. Debashree Goswami, a fellow in the Kappe Lab at the research institute’s Center for Global Infectious Disease Research and lead author of the paper, a vaccine candidate based on their findings has the potential to offer protection to those living in regions where the transmission of malaria is widespread throughout the population. More effective vaccines are needed to successfully eradicate malaria, a disease that results in more than 228 million cases and 400,000 deaths annually. A vaccine that...