Spying on malaria parasites at -196 Celsius

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MALARIA RESEARCH:  By combining two advanced microscope techniques an international team of scientists led by postdoc Sergey Kapishnikov from the Niels Bohr Institute has managed to obtain new information about the ravaging mode of operation applied by malaria parasites when attacking their victims. This information can be utilized when designing new medication to more effectively fight malaria - a disease claiming over 400.000 lives each year, a majority of whom are infants.

MALARIA RESEARCH:  By combining two advanced microscope techniques an international team of scientists led by postdoc Sergey Kapishnikov from the Niels Bohr Institute has managed to obtain new information about the ravaging mode of operation applied by malaria parasites when attacking their victims. This information can be utilized when designing new medication to more effectively fight malaria - a disease claiming over 400.000 lives each year, a majority of whom are infants.

Conducting real-time studies of a malaria parasite is difficult - you have to keep it on a very short leash to stand a chance of succeeding. And the leash, which allows for close-up examination, may involve the use of liquid nitrogen. This is shown in an international research project headed by postdoc Sergey Kapishnikov from X-ray and Neutron Science at Niels Bohr Institute (NBI), University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

The project, which will appear as an article in this weeks issue of Scientific Reports , has come about as a co-operation between research institutions in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Israel - and besides Sergey Kapishnikov NBI is represented by professor emeritus Jens Als-Nielsen.

Read more at Faculty of Science - University of Copenhagen

Image: Sergey Kapishnikov and Jens Als-Nielsen in the laboratory at the HC Ørsted Institute in Copenhagen.  (Credit: Niels Bohr Institute (NBI), University of Copenhagen, Denmark)