Dr Matthew Kenneth HIGGINS
Fellow 2005 to 2010
Email: mkh20 "at" cam.ac.uk />
Website: http://www.bioc.cam.ac.uk/people/uto/higgins.html
During cerebral malaria, parasite infected red blood cells block tiny blood vessels in the brain, leading to coma, neurological damage and death. In placental malaria, infected red blood cells bind to the placenta causing miscarriage, premature birth and death of mother and child. The interactions at the heart of both of these disease phenotypes involve PfEMP1 proteins, produced by the parasite and displayed on the surface of the infected red blood cell (1). These PfEMP1 proteins interact with human receptors, tethering or clumping the infected erythrocytes and causing the symptoms of disease. Our major goal is to investigate the structures of these PfEMP1 proteins and the molecular basis for their interactions with human receptors.