Inflammation and dysmetabolism in malaria

With > 200 million clinical cases and over 400 thousands deaths each year, malaria remains a major health problem. In our research group, we focus on malaria complications, which are the main cause of death in malaria patients and arise from complex interactions between the parasite and the host immune and vascular systems. We investigate the pathogenesis of these complications and aim to develop improved therapies. Advanced mouse models, including transgenic parasites and conditional knockout mice, are combined with clinical studies and state-of-the-art technologies, including multicolor flow cytometry, histology and (confocal) microscopy, imaging technologies, transcriptomics and metabolomics. Both inflammatory markers and metabolic disturbances are highly associated with severity and mortality in malaria. In this PhD project, the aim is to investigate the regulation and mechanistic link between inflammation and metabolism in malaria and to determine how dysmetabolism may aggravate severe malaria and impede efficient therapy.