https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Every cell of the deadly Plasmodium falciparum parasite, the organism that causes malaria, contains a tiny compartment full of microscopic iron crystals. As long as the parasite is alive, the crystals dance. They spin, jolt, and ricochet in their little bubble like change in an overclocked washing machine, too fast and chaotic to even be tracked by traditional scientific techniques. And when the parasite dies, they stop. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-malaria-parasites-full-wildly-iron.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 29 Oct 2025 11:30:08 EDT news680955206 A team of chemists, biologists and microbiologists led by researchers in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis has found a way to tweak an antimalarial drug and turn it into a potent antibiotic, part of a project more than 20 years in the making. Importantly, the new antibiotic should be largely impervious to the tricks that bacteria have evolved to become resistant to other drugs. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-decades-quest-antibiotic-compounds.html Biochemistry Mon, 24 Mar 2025 10:02:04 EDT news662029321 Malaria kills over 600,000 people a year, and as the climate warms, the potential range of the disease is growing. While some drugs can effectively prevent and treat malaria, resistance to those drugs is also on the rise. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-discovery-critical-iron-protein-malaria.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 28 Oct 2024 17:18:04 EDT news649354681 Prof. Leslie Leiserowitz first became intrigued by malaria when he was a young boy in South Africa. His father, who scouted the continent in search of wood for the family business, brought back not only tales of elephants and gorillas but also skin rashes and ringing in his ears, side effects of the quinine he took to prevent malaria. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-definitive-atomic-heme-crystals-malaria.html Biochemistry Mon, 28 Oct 2024 09:37:06 EDT news649327022 Collaborating researchers have discovered a link between malaria parasites' ability to develop resistance to antimalarial drugs—specifically artemisinin (ART)—through a cellular process called transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) modification. tRNA modification is a mechanism that allows cells to respond rapidly to stress by altering RNA molecules within a cell. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-mechanism-drug-resistance-malaria-parasite.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 16 May 2024 11:15:05 EDT news635076901 Scientists have developed a technique to rapidly and reliably detect genetic changes in malaria parasites in Ghana, using just a gaming laptop and portable MinION sequencer from Oxford Nanopore. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-pocket-sized-dna-sequencers-track-malaria.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 27 Nov 2023 12:43:23 EST news620311400 The global effect of malaria is devastating. In 2020, there were more than 240 million cases and over 600,000 deaths, mostly in lower income countries in Africa. The most vulnerable are children under the age of five. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-mathematics-malaria.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 12 Aug 2022 11:55:03 EDT news579524101 A new method to combat malaria, which sees the disease turn against itself, could offer an effective treatment for the hundreds of millions of people infected globally each year as the efficacy of current antimalarial drugs weakens. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-parasite-self-destruct-weapon-drug-resistant-malaria.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 02 Jun 2022 15:52:54 EDT news573403971 Much of common pharmaceutical development today is the product of laborious cycles of tweaking and optimization. In each drug, a carefully concocted formula of natural and synthetic enzymes and ingredients works together to catalyze a desired reaction. But in early development, much of the process is spent determining what quantities of each enzyme to use to ensure a reaction occurs at a specific speed. https://phys.org/news/2021-04-collaborative-fine-tune-production-antimalarials-chemo.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 21 Apr 2021 17:05:03 EDT news538243489 New research from the Francis Crick Institute has found how the malaria parasite protects itself from toxic compounds in red blood cells. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-malaria-secret-surviving-blood-uncovered.html Biochemistry Tue, 30 Jun 2020 10:26:41 EDT news512731573 Despite humanity's best efforts to eradicate malaria, the disease struck more than 200 million people in 2017, according to the World Health Organization. Worse yet, the parasite that causes malaria is developing resistance to many antimalarial drugs, including the mainstay, chloroquine. Researchers are actively searching for new treatments, and now, a group reporting in ACS Omega have found that aҫaí berry extracts can reduce parasites in the blood and prolong the survival of infected mice. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-a1195aiacute-berry-malaria-mice.html Biochemistry Wed, 16 Oct 2019 12:51:52 EDT news490449102 The first detailed map of individual malaria parasite behaviour across each stage of its complicated life cycle has been created by scientists. Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators used advanced single-cell technology to isolate individual parasites and measure their gene activity. The result is the Malaria Cell Atlas, which gives the highest resolution view of malaria parasite gene expression to date and monitors how individual parasites change as they develop in both the mosquito and human host. https://phys.org/news/2019-08-malaria-behavior-revolutionize.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 22 Aug 2019 14:00:09 EDT news485686310 Cells are incredibly adept at creating complex molecules, like therapeutics, and can do so much better than many of our best factories. https://phys.org/news/2019-06-method-metabolic-pathways.html Biochemistry Thu, 06 Jun 2019 03:04:14 EDT news479009043 Significant headway has been made in controlling malaria. However, two vexing problems remain: currently available treatments are unable to block transmission of the parasite that causes the disease, and the parasite often becomes resistant to drugs. According to a new study led by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), there is a class of compounds that could address both of these problems. https://phys.org/news/2017-09-malaria-drug-candidate-parasite.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 06 Sep 2017 12:00:35 EDT news423918026 Plant biologists at The University of Western Australia have revealed the relationship between plants and the parasite that causes malaria is close enough to mean many antimalarial drugs are effective herbicides. https://phys.org/news/2017-04-chemicals-malaria-weeds.html Biochemistry Mon, 03 Apr 2017 08:57:06 EDT news410428616 The iron-containing molecule heme is necessary for life. Cells require heme to perform the chemical reactions that produce energy, among other critical tasks. https://phys.org/news/2017-02-aim-key-malaria-molecule.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:44:06 EST news407436237 The first three-dimensional image capturing a critical malaria 'conductor' protein could lead to the development of a new class of antimalarial drugs. https://phys.org/news/2015-07-d-image-malaria-conductor-aids.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 27 Jul 2015 11:39:09 EDT news357215941 Melbourne researchers are homing in on a new target for malaria treatment, after developing a compound that blocks the action of a key 'gatekeeper' enzyme essential for malaria parasite survival. https://phys.org/news/2014-07-compound-blocks-gatekeeper-enzyme-malaria.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 01 Jul 2014 14:00:02 EDT news323439655 Highlighting an important but unexplored area of evolution, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found evidence that, over hundreds of millions of years, an essential protein has evolved chiefly by changing how it moves, rather than by changing its basic molecular structure. https://phys.org/news/2013-09-protein-evolution.html Cell & Microbiology Sun, 29 Sep 2013 13:00:08 EDT news299676828 A biology lab at Washington University has just cracked the structure and function of a protein that plays a key role in the life of a parasite that killed 655,000 people in 2010. https://phys.org/news/2012-01-scientists-characterize-protein-essential-survival.html Biochemistry Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:41:16 EST news245097662 An international team led by scientists from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) and The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a family of chemical compounds that could lead to a new generation of antimalarial drugs capable of not only alleviating symptoms but also preventing the deadly disease. https://phys.org/news/2011-11-scientists-class-antimalarial-compounds.html Biochemistry Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:00:04 EST news240760708 Snug inside a human red blood cell, the malaria parasite hides from the immune system and fuels its growth by digesting hemoglobin, the cell's main protein. The parasite, however, must obtain additional nutrients from the bloodstream via tiny pores in the cell membrane. Now, investigators from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have found the genes that malaria parasites use to create these feeding pores. https://phys.org/news/2011-05-scientists-genetic-basis-key-parasite.html Biotechnology Thu, 26 May 2011 12:00:08 EDT news225628554 Researchers have found that the anti-malarial drug quinine can block a cell's ability to take up the essential amino acid tryptophan, a discovery that may explain many of the adverse side-effects associated with quinine. Once confirmed, these findings would suggest that dietary tryptophan supplements could be a simple and inexpensive way to improve the performance of this important drug. https://phys.org/news/2009-06-tryptophan-deficiency-underlie-quinine-side.html Biochemistry Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:51:54 EDT news165238691