# Complete Plasmodium falciparum infection cycle model

> **NIH NIH R21** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $245,625

## Abstract

SUMMARY
 A variety of novel malaria control strategies are being developed to target the parasites within the human or
mosquito vector, or as they transition from vector-to-host or hos-to-vector. Most of these approaches are being
studied and evaluated by using laboratory-based in vitro and rodent models in the context of malaria transmission
dynamics, because to date there is no experimentally easy and affordable human Plasmodium falciparum malaria
transmission model. Furthermore, the small number of in vitro-cultured P. falciparum strains capable of infecting
mosquitoes represent another obstacle in the study of mosquito stages of P. falciparum infection. To maintain
gametocytogenesis and mosquito infectivity, asexually grown P. falciparum cultures should either be maintained
at low passage number or should be passaged through infection cycles in the mosquito vector, but these
strategies also require a malaria transmission model comprising the entire human infection cycle.
 We have recently advanced the development of an existing humanized mouse model to enable the complete
P. falciparum infection cycle, from gametocyte to gametocyte. Here we will further this achievement into a
standardized, affordable and accessible human malaria infection model, thereby closing a critical gap in malaria
transmission studies. In aim 1 we will explore the utility of the humanized mouse-based P. falciparum transmission
model with various malaria vector species and P. falciparum isolates. In aim 2 we will investigate the utility of the
humanized mouse-based P. falciparum transmission model to maintain P. falciparum gametocyte infectiousness
under laboratory conditions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10735896
- **Project number:** 5R21AI168873-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** George Dimopoulos
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $245,625
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-11-07 → 2025-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10735896

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10735896, Complete Plasmodium falciparum infection cycle model (5R21AI168873-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10735896. Licensed CC0.

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