Research Interests
My research interests span a wide range of topics within the malaria field, with particular emphasis on the hepatic stage of infection. In general terms, I am interested in elucidating hitherto obscure aspects of the biology of Plasmodium infection, unveiling novel host-parasite interactions and developing new drug- and vaccine-based anti-malarial strategies, and developing new hepatic Plasmodium infection systems.
Specifically, my current research focuses on:
- Unraveling novel host-parasite molecular interactions during Plasmodium hepatic infection.
- Understanding the molecular mechanisms of nutrient uptake and metabolism during Plasmodium development inside hepatic cells.
- Investigating the reciprocal influence of Plasmodium and Trypanosoma co-infections.
- Developing and evaluating the activity of novel compounds against Plasmodium liver stages.
- Developing a novel pre-erythrocytic whole-organism anti-malarial vaccination strategy.
- Developing effective in vitro sporozoite production and sporozoite cryopreservation methods.
- Developing a new 3D hepatic cell culturing system for Plasmodium infection.
