Multi-Functional and Multi-Stage Immunity to Transform Malaria Vaccine Efficacy

James Beeson of the Burnet Institute with Stephen Scally of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, both in Australia, will develop candidate malaria mRNA vaccines designed to confer multiple types of immunity over multiple lifecycle stages of the malaria parasite. They will start with lead candidates that target Plasmodium merozoites, screening them with a human organoid model of the germinal center for their ability to activate B cell responses. Based on these tests, they will add antigens and test the resulting multi-antigen vaccines in animal models to create candidates that confer anti-merozoite, anti-sporozoite, and transmission-blocking immunity.