Research at Keele Discovering Excellence | Page 12

Professor Paul Eggleston
Discovering Excellence | Malaria

Malaria
Centre for Applied Entomology
and Parasitology
Malaria, Mosquitoes and Man: Keele University
Research Team targets devastating global disease
Malaria is an important disease that afflicts the health and socioeconomic
development of half the world’s population
In 2005, a global alliance of over 500
governments, non-governmental
organisations, commercial
companies and private sponsors
combined to form the Roll Back
Malaria Partnership with the aim to
scale-up control measures, ensure
their sustained delivery and, by 2015,
ensure that malaria is no longer
a major cause of global mortality
nor a barrier for socioeconomic
development. While there has
been some successes, these are
jeopardised by worrying new
reports of treatment failure with
the current front-line antimalarial
drugs and evolving resistance in
mosquitoes to insecticides.
Keele University’s Centre for
Applied Entomology and
Parasitology hosts a cluster of five
research teams that have parallel
interests in understanding the
pathology of disease and developing
strategies for the control of malaria.
Termed ‘Malaria, Mosquitoes and
Man’ or MMM, this cluster has had
some considerable success over
recent years in securing external
research funding and has developed
new research links with colleagues
in Western Africa. In addition, MMM
recruits and trains scientists, many
from malaria endemic countries,
in the use of modern molecular
techniques. Located within the
Huxley Building on the main
University campus, MMM is housed
within large, modern multi-user
laboratories to facilitate sharing of
ideas, resources and equipment.
Researchers have access to
specialist insect-rearing facilities
and a secure facility to maintain
parasite cultures.

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Malaria is a disease caused by a
unicellular parasitic organism that
is spread between human hosts
through the bite of a mosquito.
The research carried out by the
MMM cluster addresses the biology
of the parasite, the pathogenesis
of disease in humans and the
transmission of the malaria parasite
by mosquitoes.
Dr Paul Horrocks and Dr Catherine
Merrick are investigating the biology
of the most virulent species of
the malaria parasite, Plasmodium
falciparum. They are interested in
the molecular mechanisms that
control growth inside human red
blood cells, and also in how these
infected red blood cells persist in
the face of the immune response
and how this process can be
subverted to cause disease. Both
Paul and Catherine are supported
by New Investigator Awards from
the Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council
and Medical Research Council,
respectively. Paul also works with
Dr Mark Skidmore to explore the
potential of chemically-modified
complex carbohydrates as a
novel adjunct therapy to support
more traditional small-molecule
antimalarial therapies. Dr Srabasti
Chakravorty, meanwhile, focuses
directly on the interaction of the
malaria parasite with the human
host. Parasitized red blood cells can
accumulate in blood vessels within
the brain, often resulting in coma
and death. Srabasti is interested in
understanding how this accumulation
alters the cells that line the blood
vessels and how this then goes on to
affect the blood-brain barrier.

The MMM team is also interested
in the biology of the mosquito and
its complicated interactions with
the malaria parasite. They believe
that releasing genetically-modified
mosquitoes, which kill parasites
ingested during a blood meal, may
be an effective means of biological
control in malaria endemic regions.
This creates many challenges;
including whether engineered
mosquitoes are ‘fit’ enough to persist
in the wild and produce a sustained
control effect. An important part of
this research is collaborations with
African scientists.
In one programme, funded by the
Wellcome Trust, Professor Paul
Eggleston and Dr Frederic Tripet
collaborate with researchers at
the Malaria Research and Training
Centre at the University of Bamako
in Mali. As well as training three
Malian scientists at Keele, they
have established a modern secure
research laboratory in Mali to
develop and translate these novel
control approaches to the ‘field’.
In a second capacity-building
programme funded by the Medical
Research Council, Frederic is
working with colleagues in Burkina
Faso to seek an understanding of
the ecology, population genetics
and mating behaviour of local
mosquito populations. This
information is vital for the future
release of genetically-modified or
sterile mosquitoes.