Conference Agenda

Malaria continues to be a major cause of illness and death worldwide. Although efforts to develop a malaria vaccine date back to the 1940s, achieving a highly effective formulation that provides durable protection has remained a significant challenge.

Our work has shown that a chemically attenuated, whole parasite blood-stage malaria vaccine can elicit robust, CD4+ T cell–dependent immunity that protects against diverse malaria parasite strains in pre-clinical rodent models. In malaria-naïve human volunteers, a similar chemically attenuated Plasmodium falciparum blood-stage vaccine prevented the onset of blood-stage infection in a subset of individuals following controlled blood-stage parasite challenge. To our knowledge, this represents the first instance in which a blood-stage malaria vaccine has completely averted infection in human volunteers.

Despite these promising findings, the use of chemically attenuated parasites in endemic settings is constrained by various practical and logistical considerations. To address these limitations, we reformulated the vaccine by incorporating blood-stage parasites into liposomes. In rodent models, a whole blood-stage parasite liposomal formulation retained high efficacy after freezing or lyophilisation, supporting its suitability for field deployment.

Building on these results, we extended this platform to the related apicomplexan parasite Babesia, which causes babesiosis in humans as well as in livestock and companion animals. A lyophilised, liposome-based whole-parasite Babesia blood-stage vaccine induced strong cross-species protection in rodent models, highlighting its potential for both human and veterinary use.

Both the malaria- and babesiosis liposomal vaccine candidates are now advancing into clinical trials.