Relationship between cell-cell interactions and disease severity in patients with cerebral malaria

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Severe malaria is a collection of disease complications that leads to about 2 million deaths each year worldwide. Young children in Africa and young adults in several parts of South-East Asia are particularly affected. Travellers to these regions are also at considerable risk. One of the most dangerous complications of malaria is when the brain becomes affected, which is called cerebral malaria. We still do not understand enough about the changes that link the parasite circulating in the blood with the devastating disturbance of brain function that causes death in some people who develop cerebral malaria. In this project we will investigate some new ideas about how cerebral malaria develops. We will perform a detailed study of brain tissue taken from victims of cerebral malaria and compare the observations with similar ones in children who died of other causes. Then we will work with an experimental model we have developed, in which we put together in culture flasks the various types of cell that are found in the brain lesions in people who die from cerebral malaria. Our aim is to identify some new therapeutic targets for later use in treatment of cerebral malaria patients.