The Malaria Genetics Section of the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases conducts basic research on factors that govern the drug response, pathogenesis and transmission of malaria. The work incorporates strategies of linkage mapping, field population surveys, gene manipulation and gene product analysis with a view toward the discovery of fundamental biological information that will be of use in the development of new diagnostics, therapeutics and control measures against the disease. The research of the section largely focuses upon Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes the most severe form of malaria and produces 2-3 million deaths each year from the disease. Current projects include investigations of 1) molecular mechanisms of drug resistance, particularly the resistance of malaria strains to such crucial anti-parasite drugs as chloroquine, quinine, and mefloquine; 2) gene transcription switches and DNA recombination events responsible for the antigenic variation and immune evasion of parasitized red blood cells; 3) epidemiology of hemoglobins C and S (sickle-cell) and their protection against severe malaria in African children; 4) a genetic defect in chromosome 12 that adversely affects the development of male gametocytes. - malaria; drug resistance; antigenic variation; hemoglobins; sickle-cell; chloroquine; quinine; mefloquine; genetics; genomics - Human Subjects & Human Subjects: Interview, Questionaires, or Surveys Only
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