Insights into var2csa and placental malaria

Two IDEEL papers were accepted related to Malaria in Pregnancy and the parasite's receptor for the placenta: var2csa. Led by the Meshnick lab, Andi Waltmann shows that placental strains are the correlate with those in the peripheral circulation. Bob Verity examines the population genetic structure in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our lab provides support for sequence analysis and bioinformatics.


Matched Placental and Circulating Plasmodium falciparum Parasites are Genetically Homologous at the var2csa ID1-DBL2X Locus by Deep Sequencing. Waltmann A, Patel JC, Thwai KL, Hathaway NJ, Parobek CM, Massougbodji A, Fievet N, Bailey JA, Deloron P, Juliano JJ, Ndam NT, Meshnick SR. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2018



Plasmodium falciparum genetic variation of var2csa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Verity R, Hathaway NJ, Waltmann A, Doctor SM, Watson OJ, Patel JC, Mwandagalirwa K, Tshefu AK, Bailey JA, Ghani AC, Juliano JJ, Meshnick SR. Malar J. 2018 Jan 24;17(1):46. doi: 10.1186/s12936-018-2193-9.