Birds do it. Bees do it. Even single-cell malaria parasites do it. Interrupting malaria's sexual reproductive phase may be the key to gaining control of one of the world's most deadly infectious diseases, according to Kim C. Williamson, Ph.D., associate professor, biology. With help from a team of post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, Williamson is identifying essential proteins that allow the malaria parasite to transform itself as it moves through its complex life cycle. This basic scientific research is the first step in developing medicines that could inhibit the function of these proteins, thereby limiting the spread of the disease, which infects 300 million to 500 million people worldwide, and claims 2 million lives annually.

Williamson is focusing on the sexual reproductive phase of the malaria parasite's life cycle because it is the only extended period of time the parasite is directly exposed to attack by the body's immune system, or by drugs. For most of its life cycle, the parasite is shielded from the body's immune system by residing inside cells.

Williamson, whose research is sponsored by two grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has identified several key proteins that she and her colleagues believe are required for the parasite to transform into a mature sexual form when they are taken up by mosquitoes. Blocking those proteins could disrupt or prevent the sexual development process.

"One of the questions we are trying to answer is how does the parasite know it is time to develop into a sexual reproductive form?" Williamson says. "If we can prevent that from happening, we can stop the spread of the disease."

Once the proteins are identified and their action is understood, compounds can be developed that will target and block them.

Treating malaria victims with such drugs would prevent further spread of disease. It would also extend the effective life of drugs such as quinine used to treat malaria infections, since any drug-resistant strains that developed in a victim would not have an opportunity to spread to the rest of the population.

But none of this would be possible without basic research into how the parasite moves through its life cycle, says Williamson, who came to Loyola in 1994 after a stint with the NIH. "We are at the stage now where we have identified several protein candidates to target."

Williamson says the malaria's complex life cycle and its adaptations to avoid the human immune system make it an interesting scientific challenge. But she chose to study it because it presents such a huge international problem. Malaria has not received enough attention, because it mostly affects less-developed countries, she says. "If I'm going to be spending so much time doing research, I would like to do something for those who are really in need."