Professor Julian Rayner FMedSci

My research seeks to understand the interactions between Plasmodium parasites and human cells, in order to identify and prioritise new drug and vaccine targets. I focus on the stage of the parasite life cycle that infects human red blood cells, as it is this stage that causes all the symptoms and pathology of malaria.  We work in three main areas:

• Host-parasite interactions. Focusing on the invasion of red blood cells by Plasmodium parasites, we seek to identify new receptor-ligand interactions in order to understand their function during the complex and rapid process of invasion and also explore their potential as vaccine targets. We work closely with Prof. Pietro Cicuta in the Dept of Physics to develop novel video microscopy and biophysics assays to understand invasion at the cellular level, and with Prof. Manoj Duraisingh at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to work on Plasmodium vivax, which causes the majority of malaria outside Africa.
• Large-scale experimental genetic screens. While at Sanger and in close partnership with Prof. Oliver Billker, now Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden, we developed scalable genetic technologies and applied them to human, simian and rodent Plasmodium parasites to explore the unannotated half of the Plasmodium genome and prioritise drug targets. We are now combining these with our cellular tools to deepen our understanding of invasion.
• Partnership and capacity building. Plasmodium parasites are not model organisms, and all malaria research is rooted in the challenges facing endemic countries. We work closely with partners in Kenya, Ghana, India and Colombia to ensure the tools we develop are accessible to all malaria researchers and support capacity building wherever possible.