Kliniken & Institute ... Institute Zentrum für... Parasitology Unit Research Malaria 5: Osier Projects

=> 25th April is World Malaria Day. South-South Malaria Antigen Research ParTnership (SMART), releases this short documentary featuring the innovations of African Scientists in the quest for new effective vaccines against malaria

Together let us make Malaria history!  

The research team around Faith Osier is focused on understanding how humans acquire immunity to Plasmodium falciparum malaria, knowledge that they aim to translate into highly effective vaccines.

Malaria is a major public health problem in sub-saharan Africa, leading to over 400,000 deaths each year, predominantly in young children. Reducing the burden caused by this disease is one of the millennium development goals. There is currently no licensed malaria vaccine. However, studies in areas where malaria is frequently experienced have shown that it is possible to acquire immunity. Passive transfer studies in humans showed that antibodies are an important component of acquired immunity.

Faith Osier and her research team are aiming to identify the parasite targets of these protective antibodies and understand their mechanisms of action.

The research programme has three broad themes:

  1. vaccine candidate discovery
  2. antibody correlates of protection
  3. mechanisms of immunity.