Sydney: Australian researchers have made a major breakthrough in the quest for a vaccine against malaria, which snuffs out a million lives every year, particularly of children.
The findings show that people who develop immunity to malaria develop antibodies that primarily target a protein known as PfEMP1, which is produced by Plasmodium falciparum, causing most cases of malaria.
James Beeson, professor and senior study author at the Burnet Institute, Australia's largest virology and communicable disease research centre, said that these findings are a major advance towards developing an effective vaccine, the Journal of Clinical Investigation reports.
These findings unlock the mystery of which malaria proteins, known as variant surface antigens (VSAs), could be targeted by an effective vaccine to achieve immunity to malaria, according to a Burnet statement....
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01:25 PM, Aug 06, 2012
New Delhi: Dr Chetan Chitnis has won the Infosys prize for his work on one of the first vaccines against malaria. Belonging to a family of scientists, Dr Chintis was the topper in Physics at IIT Mumbai before moving towards Biology. Every year malaria kills thousands around the globe but now his vaccine could save their lives. Malaria parasite invades red blood cells where they multiply, so first they have...
09:05 AM, Jan 03, 2011
