Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Finding the GAP

Genetically hampered malaria parasite as a vaccine

30 July 2020

Finding the GAP

Developing vaccines requires a careful balance – altering a dangerous pathogen in such a way that it’s harmless to inject, but retains enough of its identity to arouse the suspicions of the body’s immune system. The hope is that our immune cells not only make antibodies to defeat the 'dummy' pathogen, but keep a sort of cellular memory, responding swiftly to the same invader in future. Here researchers inject a form of Plasmodium falciparum, a parasite that causes malaria, into a mouse. The parasite has been genetically attenuated (GAP) – removing a gene called Mei2 leaves it alive but trapped in the mouse’s liver, unable to pass into the blood where it might cause disease. Brightly coloured stains highlight different aspects of the hampered pathogen, helping scientists decide if it can serve as a faithful template to prepare the mouse’s immune defences – a step towards trials of similar GAP vaccines in humans.

Written by John Ankers

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.