Our research areas fall into four categories:

1. Immunological correlates of immunity:

  • Determination of antibody levels to merozoite surface protein -1 (MSP-1) in children immunized with MSP-1 malaria vaccine candidate antigen.
  • Flow-cytometry measurements of circumsporozoite protein (CSP) specific cell mediated immunity
  • Evaluation of secreted malaria antigens (HRP2 and pLDH) for quantification of malaria parasite biomass.
  • Evaluation of a novel miniaturized multiple pathogen diagnostics platform

2. Molecular identification of natural traits that confer protection to malaria:

  • Detection of hemoglobin variants by HPLC
  • Detection of alpha thalassaemia by multiplex PCR
  • Detection of G6PD deficiency by PCR and restriction length polymorphism

3. Molecular genotyping of malaria parasite:

  • Determination of antigenic diversity within the immunological determinant site of CS protein in populations collected in cohorts receiving CSP malaria candidate vaccine
  • Determination of MSP1 and MSP2 allelic variants in populations collected in cohorts receiving CSP and MSP-1 malaria candidate vaccine
  • Determination of MSP-119 allelic variants in  Plasmodium falciparum collected in cohorts receiving MSP-1 malaria candidate vaccine

4. Basic science research:

  • Studies on how malaria affects expression levels of complement regulatory proteins on red blood cells
  • Studies to determine whether bacteremia that is invariably seen in children with malaria is caused by hypocomplementemia due to sustained complement activation
  • Evaluating whether P. falciparum uses quorum sensing to auto-regulate parasite density
  • Identification and functional characterization of genetic polymorphisms, including the Swain-Langley and McCoy blood groups, of the human complement receptor 1 (CR1) gene that may influence the susceptibility to severe malaria in Kenya