Principal Investigator (PI)
The Foundation is providing £83,177 in support.
Dr. Kristina Wickham
GSK provides in-kind contribution including access to the insectary with Plasmodium falciparum-infected mosquitoes and Biosafety Level 3 facilities, and staff support and expertise in humanized mouse models for malaria.
P. falciparum is the deadliest of the five parasite species that cause malaria in humans. A striking limitation of current malaria research is the lack of adequate preclinical animal models that can directly support the exoerythrocytic phase of P. falciparum infection. This impedes the further understanding of Plasmodium biology as well as development and interrogation of antimalarial drugs. Previous work by the Rochford lab has demonstrated that tumors retaining hepatocyte-like characteristics can be established in NOD (non-obese diabetic)/SCID mice with minimal technical manipulation, circumventing significant challenges encountered by other humanized mouse models for P. falciparum liver stage infection.
During her time in the Open Lab, Kristina will investigate the capability of these “pseudo-livers” to reproduce a biologically relevant P. falciparum infection. This pseudo-liver model would significantly advance the capacity to directly test the efficacy of antimalarial compounds in the context of human liver stage P. falciparum infection.