Frontiers | Science News

Science News post list

23 news posts in Infectious disease

Featured news

25 Apr 2022

World Malaria Day: Meet a researcher using genetic engineering to tackle a serious global disease

By Colm Gorey/Prof Tania de Koning-Ward, Deakin University Prof Tania de Koning-Ward, Deakin University. Image: Deakin University World Malaria Day – held on the 25 April –  is an occasion to highlight the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment for malaria prevention and control. To mark this important awareness day, Frontiers caught up with Prof Tania de Koning-Ward to hear how she is contributing to a global effort to prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Tania de Koning-Ward is a professor in molecular microbiology based at Deakin University’s School of Medicine in Australia and is a senior research fellow of the country’s National Health and Medical Research Council. Here she heads the school’s malaria pathogenesis research group which aims to investigate molecular level, key parasite-host interactions that enable malaria parasites to thrive and survive in their host and cause disease. She has published extensively on the subject, including in an article published to Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology in September 2020. What inspired you to become a researcher? Do you have any specific memories that set off a spark? Growing up, I always enjoyed biology and maths but realized pretty quickly at university that it […]

Featured news

27 Sep 2021

Broadening the scope of research on one of Frontiers in Microbiology‘s largest sections

Image: Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock.com Two years have passed since the first Covid-19 case was reported. The impact of the pandemic has been devastating with death toll numbers painting a dismal picture of post recovery on health and on the tourism industry. Scientific revelations from the past years have shown that research on infectious disease transmissions, epidemiology, prevention and treatment is paramount – and so is going beyond the human host. The scope of one of Frontiers in Microbiology‘s largest sections – Infectious Diseases, has been refocused into Infectious Agents and Disease with the aim to: Encourage broader pathogen research advancing the understanding of infectious agents causing disease beyond the human host The re-focus of this highly respected section within the journal aims to welcome a broader audience and submissions that include infectious agents causing dysbiotic conditions, “classical”, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in humans as well as in animals and humans in the case of zoonotic infectious diseases. The new scope has been shaped in close consultations with Specialty Chief Editor, Dr Axel Cloeckaert (INRAE, Université de Tours) and the Field Chief Editor, Prof Martin Klotz (Washington State University). “Biological variation as the entire world is now aware with COVID-19 variants, applies […]

Featured news

20 Aug 2021

World Mosquito Day: How the pest’s diet could lead to discovery of new antimalarial drug

By Suzanna Burgelman/ PhD student and fellow Trizah Koyi Milugo, ICIPE PhD student and fellow Trizah Koyi Milugo. Image: Trizah Koyi Milugo A preventable disease, malaria still threatens millions of people around the world. World Mosquito Day raises awareness about malaria and its transmission via mosquitos. Researchers such as PhD student Trizah Koyi Milugo focus their research on malaria control and prevention and, in her case, is researching the development of a novel tool for controlling malaria transmission. In 2019, 229m clinical cases of malaria occurred and 409,000 people died of the disease, most of them children in Africa. The disease is found in more than 100 countries worldwide, but roughly 70% of the world’s malaria burden is concentrated in Africa and India. Humans get infected with the malaria virus through mosquito bites. Other than malaria, mosquitos carry an array of dangerous diseases, such as dengue, zika, and west Nile virus. Mosquitos are the world’s deadliest creature. World Mosquito Day raises awareness about the dangers of mosquitos and the devastating consequences of malaria. Trizah Koyi Milugo, a PhD student at the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), is currently researching the development of a novel tool for controlling […]

Image of plant leaf with fungus infection: The finding that anti-cancer drugs help plants fight disease could lead to new treatments for fungal and other plant pathogens: Frontiers in Plant ScienceThe finding that anti-cancer drugs help plants fight disease could lead to new treatments for fungal and other plant pathogens: Frontiers in Plant Science

Featured news

17 Oct 2018

Cancer-fighting drugs also help plants fight disease

The finding could help with efforts to develop disease resistance against fungal infections and other plant pathogens: Frontiers in Plant Science

Frontiers in Microbiology: Researchers observing evolutionary change in real time show that a fungal parasite can quickly adapt to a population of genetically identical cyanobacteria but not to populations with different genetic variants

Featured news

09 Jul 2018

Genetic diversity helps protect against disease

The finding that a fungal parasite can quickly adapt to a population of genetically identical cyanobacteria helps explain why diversity in populations may be valuable for their preservation: Frontiers in Mirobiology

Newsletter