News

Ramon Margalef Award for research on malaria

Elisabet Tintó has won the Ramon Margalef prize with her research on malaria, which affects more than 200 million people. Specifically, for his discovery of how the malaria parasite defends itself against adverse conditions in the host, including fever. The research was published in an article in Nature Microbiology.

“Plasmodium falciparum infection, which causes one of the most serious forms of malaria in humans, is characterized by periodic fevers. And the fever is an important element of our body’s response to pathogens. Now, in the case of malaria, the mechanism by which the parasite can survive feverish temperatures was unknown,” explains Tintó.

“In our research we have made a revolutionary discovery that explains how the malaria parasite defends itself from fever: we have identified the transcription factor PfAP2-HS. It is a transcription factor that controls the activity of the parasite’s genes and specifically the response to high temperatures. In addition, the research has discovered that PfAP2-HS, unique to the malaria parasite, also plays a fundamental role in the development of the parasite and in resistance to artemisinin, the most widely used antimalarial drug at the moment.”

“Our work opens new perspectives in the search for the biology of the parasite and the development of treatments, since understanding how parasites adapt to environmental changes is crucial for the design of effective strategies to control and, ultimately, eradicate the malaria”, concludes Tintó, who collected his research in a doctoral thesis directed by Alfred Cortés.

Tintó carried out her research as a researcher at ISGlobal and is currently at this research center. “We are now trying to understand the mechanism by which the malaria parasite can be transmitted to the mosquito, a process of great relevance to understanding how the disease spreads”, he explains.

Share this post:

Utilitzem cookies de tercers amb finalitats tècniques i analítiques. Si continua navegant vol dir que accepta la nostra política de cookies. Més informació,plugin cookies política de cookies.

ACEPTAR
Aviso de cookies