Project: Identifying functional antibodies that protect against severe malaria
Rogerson Group
Malaria is a life-threatening disease that affects over 200 million people annually. Malaria mostly kills children under age 5 and pregnant women. Severe malaria occurs because Plasmodium falciparum parasite infected red blood cells bind to the blood vessel endothelium and accumulate in the microvasculature, including in the brain or placenta. Binding is mediated by a variant protein, P. falciparum Erythrocyte Membrane Protein 1 (PfEMP1), and we have evidence that antibodies against particular PfEMP1 variants help protect against severe malaria. In order to develop a PfEMP1 based therapeutic, it is important to identify what types of antibodies are best at killing the parasite. We are interested in how different antibody types (for example, isotypes, subclasses or sugar modifications) affect how the immune system interacts with the parasite, and what antibody types and antibody functions are best at protecting from severe malaria. To answer these questions you will work with patient blood samples or monoclonal antibodies, and techniques will likely include malaria parasite culture, white blood cell isolation, ELISA and other plate-based assays, flow cytometry and statistical analysis.
Contact project supervisor for further
information and application enquiries
Rogerson Group
1 vacancies
The Rogerson laboratory studies immunity to severe malaria in pregnant women and young children. We are identifying the targets and features of antibody responses that can protect against severe malaria in young children or against placental malaria. We have established assays to perform Systems Serology analyses of antibody immunity, including identification of the targets of antibody and the types of antibody response important for protection. These include antibody isotype and subclass, and engagement of Fc receptors and complement both in plate-based assays and using white blood cells, including neutrophils monocytes and NK cells. We are establishing assays of antibody glycosylation.
Rogerson Group Current Projects
Research degrees at the Doherty Institute are administered by the University of Melbourne.