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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

CP4.1: Cells, Molecules and Genes – Tribute to Bob Sinden - 10 min talks
Location: Lecture Theatre 1
Session Chair: Alicja (Ala) Tabor, The University Of Queensland
Session Chair: Alexander Gofton, CSIRO

Presentation 1

Defining transmission bottlenecks across the malaria parasite mosquito-to-vertebrate lifecycle using cellular barcoding

Claire Sayers¹, Francis Weate¹, Harry Pollard¹, Darren Liu¹, David Khoury², Miles Davenport², Jake Baum¹

1: School of Biomedical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney; 2: Infection Analytics Program, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney

Plasmodium parasites, the causative agents of malaria, must cycle between mosquito vectors and vertebrate hosts, encountering population bottlenecks at each transition. Parasite numbers can drop from billions in the bloodstream to only a few in the mosquito midgut after feeding, and again during transmission back to a host, where only a small fraction of sporozoites establish a liver infection. These bottlenecks shape parasite population structure and key selective pressures, influencing drug resistance and vaccine escape. However, the magnitude of these bottlenecks has not been precisely quantified.

Here, we use cellular barcoding to track parasite populations at high resolution across the lifecycle. We generated a library of P. berghei parasites containing over 1,000 unique DNA barcodes integrated into a neutral genomic locus. This diverse population was transmitted between mice and mosquitoes via natural bites or intravenous sporozoite injection, with samples collected across the lifecycle stages for barcode sequencing.

Our initial analyses quantify changes in barcode diversity throughout the lifecycle, identifying where parasite diversity is lost or maintained. These results define key transmission bottlenecks and highlight stages most susceptible to intervention. This framework can be extended to assess how drugs and vaccines impact parasite population dynamics, informing more precise malaria control strategies.