The story of MSU's involvement in East African malaria research begins in Blantyre, Malawi. The Blantyre Malaria Project (BMP), one of four research affiliates embedded in the University of Malawi College of Medicine, was established by Michigan State University’s Dr. Terrie Taylor and Professor Malcolm Molyneux of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 1986. MSU has been driving innovation since the entity's inception, and continues to do so, today. Dr. Karl Seydel of MSUCOM currently serves as Director of the BMP Molecular and Genomics Core Facility, and is guiding the next generation of its Malaria investigations.
BMP focuses on supporting research on malaria in Malawi: diagnosis, pathogenesis, treatment, prevention. Investigators from many institutions are involved. In their international collaborations, Dr. Terrie Taylor, Professor Molyneux, Dr. Karl Seydel, Dr. Dan Milner (Harvard Medical School) and others have focused on the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria. Their central question has been, “How does malaria kill children?”
One child dies of cerebral malaria every minute --- over the course of a year, 750,000 children succumb to this complication of infection with the malaria parasite, P. falciparum. Even in places where research unites with excellent clinical care, such as the Paediatric Research Ward at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (the Project’s hospital home), the mortality rate of children with cerebral malaria is 15%. Further, one third of survivors are left with neurological damage (epilepsy, behavioral problems, neuromuscular abnormalities).
The Malaria Project has enrolled over 3000 extremely ill children in its ongoing study of malaria pathogenesis since 1986; it has cared for thousands more on the Research Ward, as part of its partnership with the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health. The research output has contributed greatly to our understanding of how the malaria parasite wreaks havoc in its pediatric hosts.
As the quest to comprehend and defeat P. falciparum continues, Dr. Karl Seydel and his colleagues are delving further into the relationship between antibodies against malaria antigens and disease outcomes. Preliminary results indicate that not all antibodies are created equal. More detailed characterization of the protective antibodies is being sought to help guide rational design of vaccines and/or adjunctive therapies.