By breaking down malaria, we may have another breakthrough in disease prevention.
Researchers have discovered how Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) malaria parasites enter human red blood cells at the atomic level. The finding could allow scientists to create antibodies to stop various strains of the virus from infecting people.
The discovery was made possible with a Nobel Prize-winning technology called “cryo-EM”, or cryo-electron microscopy. Using a 3-D map, a team was able to visualize exactly what happens when P. vivax interacts with human red blood cells. The groundbreaking team hailed from the University of Melbourne and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia and from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the United States.