Image: In a significant advancement in malaria research, UGA’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases has uncovered the role of an essential protein in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. This research offers promising insights for vaccine and drug development against a disease that claimed over 600,000 lives worldwide in 2022, primarily affecting children under five. Led by Vasant Muralidharan, an Associate Professor in the Department of Cellular Biology, the study focuses on the protein RON11, which is crucial for the parasite's invasion of red blood cells. The findings suggest that understanding the mechanisms controlling the development of the parasite’s unique organelles could lead to new therapeutic targets. Read the full article Type of News/Audience: Alumni Graduate students Undergraduate students Faculty https://research.uga.edu/news/researchers-discover-gene-needed-to-make-pair-of-…
