2026-27 Project (Delves & Moon)

Preparation for transmission: Dissecting the roles of novel genes required to ensure the infectivity of P. falciparum gametocyte

SUPERVISORY TEAM

Supervisor

Dr Michael Delves at LSHTM
Faculty of Infectious & Tropical Diseases, Department of Infection Biology
Email: michael.delves@lshtm.ac.uk

Co-Supervisor

Dr Robert Moon at LSHTM
Faculty of Infectious & Tropical Diseases, Department of Infection Biology
Email: rob.moon@lshtm.ac.uk

PROJECT SUMMARY

Project Summary

Despite intensive effort and gains over the last twenty-five years, malaria is still a serious problem. To ensure the progress we have made continues and is not reversed, new and innovative therapies to prevent parasite transmission are needed. One barrier to developing new antimalarial transmission-blocking therapies is that the gametocyte stage is challenging to culture in the laboratory and thus we have an incomplete understanding of how it prepares and transmits to mosquitoes. Through metabolic labelling of protein synthesis, we have generated a “translatome” of the mature gametocyte – the proteins it prioritises for translation. This list is enriched in genes known to be essential for mosquito transmission but contains many others with unknown or little-known function. This project will use genetic manipulation, in vitro parasite culture, experimental infection of mosquitoes and advanced imaging techniques to identify new genes essential for transmission and thus new targets for transmission-blocking drugs.

Project Key Words

Malaria transmission, falciparum, mosquito

MRC LID Themes

  1. Infectious Disease

Skills

MRC Core Skills

  1. Quantitative skills
  2. Interdisciplinary skills

Skills we expect a student to develop/acquire whilst pursuing this project:

  • in vitro parasite culture
  • molecular biology and genetic manipulation
  • fluorescence microscopy
  • mosquito transmission

Routes

Which route/s are available with this project?

  • 1+4 = Yes
  • +4 = Yes

Possible Master’s programme options identified by supervisory team for 1+4 applicants:

  • City St Georges – MRes Biomedical Science – Infection and Immunity
  • LSHTM – MSc Control of Infectious Diseases
  • LSHTM – MSc Medical Microbiology
  • LSHTM – MSc Medical Parasitology & Entomology

Full-time/Part-time Study

Is this project available for full-time study? Yes
Is this project available for part-time study? No

Location & Travel

Students funded through MRC LID are expected to work on site at their primary institution. At a minimum, all students must meet the institutional research degree regulations and expectations about onsite working and under this scheme they may be expected to work onsite (in-person) more frequently. Students may also be required to travel for conferences (up to 3 over the duration of the studentship), and for any required training for research degree study and training. Other travel expectations and opportunities highlighted by the supervisory team are noted below.

Day-to-day work (primary location) for the duration of this research degree project will be at: LSHTM – Bloomsbury, London

Travel requirements for this project: None

Eligibility/Requirements

Particular prior educational requirements for a student undertaking this project

  • Minimum standard institutional eligibility criteria for doctoral study at LSHTM
  • Experience with cell culture/molecular biology
  • MSc Infectious Diseases
  • MSc Molecular Parasitology

Other useful information

  • Potential Industrial CASE (iCASE) conversion? = No

PROJECT IN MORE DETAIL

Scientific description of this research project

Project objectives

  1. Select candidate genes for study
  2. Generate fluorescent “tagged” transgenic parasites to map expression profiles of the selected genes during the parasite life cycle
  3. Generate knock-out (or inducible knock-out) parasites to study the phenotypic effects of genetic deletion and importance for mosquito transmission.
  4. Functional studies on candidate genes – interaction studies to identify binding partners etc.

Techniques used

  1. In vitro culture of P. falciparum asexual and gametocyte stages
  2. Experimental mosquito transmission of gametocytes, mosquito dissection and analysis
  3. Live and fixed fluorescence microscopy (including ultra-expansion microscopy)
  4. Design and construction of plasmids to enable genetic modification of P. falciparum.

Availability of specialist materials
All laboratory infrastructure is present and operational to enable this project.

Potential risks
All techniques are routine with the expertise of the Delves and Moon labs and so no risk anticipated. There are a wide range of candidate genes for the student to select for study and some already validated as important for transmission which will mitigate the risk that any genes selected are not important for transmission.

Further reading

Relevant preprints and/or open access articles:
(DOI = Digital Object Identifier)

Other pre-application materials: None

Additional information from the supervisory team

The supervisory team has provided a recording for prospective applicants who are interested in their project. This recording should be watched before any discussions begin with the supervisory team.

Delves & Moon Recording

MRC LID LINKS

To apply for a studentship: MRC LID How to Apply
Full list of available projects: MRC LID Projects
For more information about the DTP: MRC LID About Us

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