EMBL alumnus George Christophides and his colleagues at Imperial College London have made a major breakthrough in malaria research by discovering how mosquitoes’ immune systems fight off the parasites.

“Far from being the ‘bad guys’, mosquitoes are unwilling carriers of the disease,” says George, who was a Staff Scientist in the Kafatos group until 2005. “Now we need to find out how a small number of parasites manage to evade detection while the immune system is fighting, and go on to re-infect humans during the mosquito’s next meal.”

If the researchers can bolster the mosquito’s defences to eliminate all the parasite, the discovery could help find a way to block transmission of the disease to humans.