Objective
Malaria is a devastating disease caused by the apicomplexan parasite Plasmodium. Plasmodium falciparum represents the most severe and life-threatening form of human malaria, causing over 500,000 deaths per year. There is no efficient vaccine available and resistance to all currently used drugs reported. One of the major problems in eradicating human malaria is the transmission of the parasites sexual stages, the gametocytes. These are formed in the blood and develop through five different morphological stages in specific organs of the human host. When fully mature after 10-12 days, gametocytes are released into the blood stream to be transmitted by the mosquito. The molecular regulatory mechanisms important for the formation of gametocytes are poorly understood but there is evidence showing that phosphorylation of epigenetic regulators plays a key role. The kinases that mediate these phosphorylation events and the proteins within their signalling networks, however, are not known and their identification is the aim of this proposal.
Specifically I will:
1) Develop a novel tool to enrich early stage gametocytes from parasite culture using cell-type specific surface biotinylation and affinity purification. Development of this novel technology will represent a significant enhancement in our ability to study early stage gametocytes, which are currently very hard to isolate from cell culture.
2) Identify the signalling pathways that are used during the early stage of sexual development by near-system-wide quantitative phosphoproteome analysis comparing early stage gametocytes from Aim 1 with asexual parasite stages.
3) In a complementary approach I will systematically test 10 kinase knockout lines available in the lab for their ability to form gametocytes and gametes. The function of the kinases identified will be verified by gene complementation.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases malaria
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics mutation
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology invertebrate zoology
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2014
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
NW1 1AT London
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.