2019 Gumbo final - Book - Page 77
Malaria Vaccines
LSU Department of Pathobiological Sciences
research assistant professor Paul Rider
created a malaria vaccine that targets the
liver stage of the disease.
SU Department of Pathobiological Sciences research assistant
professor Paul Rider created a malaria vaccine that will
receive financial support through a “Leverage Innovation for
Technology Transfer,” or LIFT2, grant provided by the LSU
Board of Supervisor.“When I came to LSU from Berkeley, I was surprised
by how many opportunities there were at LSU to do research,” Rider said.
“I’m happy to be able to take advantage of those opportunities to do this
kind of work. I’m excited about all of the things that we’re doing here.”
Malaria is one of the “big three” infectious diseases, along with HIV and
tuberculosis. There are approximately 200 million cases of malaria each
year and 400,000 deaths caused by the disease, most of which are in
children under the age of 5.
“The best part about our vaccine is that we target the liver stage,” Rider
said. “The pathogenesis, the part that makes you sick, is the blood stage.
We’re stopping it before it gets to the blood stage and causes malaria.”
When a person is bitten by an infected mosquito, the mosquito introduces
sporozoites, cells that will cause infection, into the bloodstream. The
sporozoites travel through the liver and divide into schizonts, which
further divide into merozoites that infect the blood cells. The blood cells
then burst, which causes anemia and other symptoms of malaria. Rider’s
vaccine targets the parasite before it enters the blood cells.
Rider’s work expands on the research of LSU Department of
Pathobiological Sciences professor Gus Kousoulas, who created a Herpes
Simplex Virus vaccine. Kousoulas’ vaccine has two mutations in it that
disrupt the virus’ ability to enter neurons. This prevents the virus from
establishing latency, in which it lies dormant within a cell and periodically
reactivates, causing the host to experience symptoms.
LSU pathobiological sciences research assistant professor Paul Rider and his grad
student Farhana Musarrat partake in lab work inside of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital on Friday, Jan. 18, 2019.
Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) can be categorized into HSV Type 1,
which most commonly causes cold sores, and HSV Type 2, which
most commonly causes genital herpes. When Rider began working in
Kousoulas’ laboratory, Kousoulas and his team were determining if their
vaccine could protect mice from both HSV Type 1 and HSV Type 2.
Two years ago, Rider began looking for opportunities to use Kousoulas’
vaccine to vaccinate against other infectious diseases and cancer. He
began putting antigens from other infectious diseases into the vaccine and
testing the vaccines’ safety and efficacy.
Rider began collaborating with Dr. Ahmed Aly, who currently works at
Bezmialem Vakif University in Turkey, after Aly showed interest in using
malaria antigens in the HSV vaccine. After Rider created the vaccine, Aly
showed the vaccine had sterilizing immunity and completely protected
vaccinated mice from malaria.
The LIFT2 fund supports academic researchers in all campuses of the
University as they transition from researching and developing their
technologies to commercializing them for public use. The LIFT2 fund
awards grants twice a year on a competitive basis. Rider is one of 12
researchers to receive a LIFT2 grant during its ninth round of funding.
The LIFT2 grant will allow Rider to perform experiments with the malaria
vaccine that are necessary for the vaccine to be available for distribution.
Rider expressed gratitude for his colleagues, including Kousoulas and
former University professor Thomas Klei, and the LIFT2 grant provided by
the LSU Board of Supervisors.
Story //Bailey Chauvin
Photo // Bella Biondini
Design // Chloe Bryars
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