Interviews with Malaria Stakeholders
Topics:
All, Academia, Africa, Charity, Diagnosis, Drug Safety, Education, Entrepreneurship, Equality, Funding, Larvicides, Medicine, Mosquito Nets, New Technologies, Politics, Research & Development
An interview with Dr Ashley Birkett, Director of PATH’s Malaria Vaccine Initiative. We discuss RTS,S and the global health challenges surrounding it, in terms of vaccine adherence and hesitancy.
A new study has found that fungus, genetically enhanced to produce spider toxin, can kill a large-number of malaria-carrying mosquitos. I speak with Brian Lovett, who is one of the authors of the paper.
Creating reference genomes for mosquitos is a challenge. But now, in a partnership between the Sanger Institute and PacBio, it can be made with just 100 nanograms of DNA.
I’m joined by Lukyn Gedge who is coordinating the Microbide Bucket Challenge in India. Her team is testing the efficacy of a new biodegradable larvicide that can kill mosquitos, releasing carbon dioxide and water into the atmosphere.
Microbide is developing a biodegradable insecticide for the control of mosquitoes. It’s currently undergoing so-called ‘bucket trials’ in India.
Dr Deborah O’Neil is the CEO of Novabiotics, a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company. She talks to me about antibiotic resistance and the future of pharma with so-called ‘personalised medicines’.
Live from Durham University, I speak with Professor Steve Lindsay. His research in developing a new type of mosquito net has hit the headlines, being described as ‘revolutionary’, with the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives.
Dr Michelle Wykes runs the Molecular Immunology unit at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and has been focusing on trying to improve the immune system’s response to a malaria infection. We discuss her recent work in malaria research which has been hailed as a breakthrough.
We speak with Professor Jake Baum of Imperial College London. He has been thrust in the spotlight for what the ‘Independent’ is calling a ‘major malaria breakthrough’. His team is working on trying to find a set of compounds that stop mosquitoes from contracting malaria when they bite an infected person.