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Identifying Plasmodium falciparum MSP- 1 variants in Malaria Multiple Infections By Reuben Mangi Yaa Supervisors: Dr. George Obiero2 and Dr. L. Isabella Oyier1,2 1. Centre for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, 2KEMRI-Wellcome Trust, Kilifi Objectives Introduction Figure 1. Malaria Victim( National Geographic) Plasmodium falciparum, the most lethal species that infects humans and causes severe malaria, has endured as a global challenge despite many efforts to combat it. To date, malaria claims approximately 1 million lives per year with most of these being children living in sub-Saharan Africa. Exploitation of the parasite proteins, especially at the merozoite stage is an attractive avenue for development of interventions to control malaria due to the role they play in erythrocyte invasion. Merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP-1) This research aimed to define the major MSP-1 variants circulating in a malaria endemic population, in children with multiple malaria episodes. and target this region as a vaccine candidate for inclusion in a multi-allelic vaccine formulation through the following specific objectives; • Identification of MSP1-19kDa gene polymorphisms in the multiple malaria infections. • Determination of allelic changes between individuals infections. • Determination of the population proportion of allele frequencies between infections. is a parasite protein involved in the invasion of erythrocytes. It has been shown to elicit immune responses in individuals in malaria endemic areas; hence it is a promising asexual blood-stage malaria vaccine candidate antigen Methods Study Design kDa genes • Plasmodium falciparum MSP-1 19 kDa gene polymorphisms was determined in 425 sera obtained from 33 children with at least 8 malaria episodes collected in 2008, in Junju, Kilifi County. • Genomic DNA was extracted using QIAamp DNA and Blood Mini Kit as per manufacturer’s instructions (Qiagen). • BioEdiit and DNASTAR Results Expected Outcome • Frequent halotypes for the polymorphic loci of MSP-119kDa between infections in the study population. • The prevalence of MSP-1 variants in a malaria endemic population will provide an insight into the number of MSP-1 variants to include in a malaria vaccine. CENTRE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOINFORMATICS (CEBIB), UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI