Abstract
Today's malaria control efforts are limited by our incomplete understanding of the biology of Plasmodium and of the complex relationships between human populations and the multiple species of mosquito and parasite. Research priorities include the development of in vitro culture systems for the complete life cycle of P. falciparum and P. vivax and the development of an appropriate liver culture system to study hepatic stages. In addition, genetic technologies for the manipulation of Plasmodium need to be improved, the entire parasite metabolome needs to be characterized to identify new druggable targets, and improved information systems for monitoring the changes in epidemiology, pathology, and host-parasite-vector interactions as a result of intensified control need to be established to bridge the gap between bench, preclinical, clinical, and population-based sciences.
Highlights
The current malaria control effort has focused on developing existing products and procedures to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality
The Malaria Eradication Research Agenda (malERA) Consultative Group on Basic Science and Enabling Technologies was convened to identify the major knowledge gaps in basic science and to prioritize basic/ fundamental science approaches that might have an impact on malaria eradication, with respect to the design of vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics
We recognize that there are likely to be many more research questions that merit equal importance in the broad field of malaria biology than we can cover in this paper, but we highlight only those approaches that were discussed by the consultative group and that may have a direct bearing on malaria eradication
Summary
The current malaria control effort has focused on developing existing products and procedures (for example, drugs and the distribution of bednets) to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality. At the basic science level, we identified a deeper understanding of the whole parasitic life cycle and the interaction of the parasite with human and vector hosts at different stages as a high priority.
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