Treeck Lab

Research focus

ERC Consolidator Grant · 2021

The role of an expanded family of exported effector kinases in environmental sensing and regulation of virulence in human malaria.

The most severe form of malaria in humans is caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Cytoadhesion of infected red blood cells (iRBCs) to host endothelium and iRBC rigidification are the major contributors to pathology. Cytoadhesion is mediated by transport of a protein called PfEMP1 onto the surface of the iRBC. It prevents clearance of iRBCs in the spleen and promotes parasite survival, but can cause the obstruction of blood vessels leading to pathology. Thus, the parasite has to strike a fine balance between preventing its own clearance through sufficiently strong cytoadhesion and control of rigidity, and killing the host. The paradigm in the field is that the strength of cytoadhesion is…

From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.