BIO650: Malaria: Bioinformatics & Sequencing

In 2020 there were about 241 million cases of malaria worldwide and 627,000 deaths. About 90% of malaria cases and 94% of malaria deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. About 80% of the deaths are children under 5 years of age. Malaria was once an endemic disease in the United states but it was declared eradicated in 1951. There are mosquito species in North America which can host and transmit the parasite which causes malaria and therefore there is a risk, due to climate change and globalization, that malaria could become an endemic disease to North America again. Researchers around the world are working to understand malaria with the goal of effective treatment and eradication. One hypothesis is that there may be genetic differences between individual mosquitoes which affect their ability to act as vectors. In partnerships with 2 research laboratories (Kim Lab at Stanford and Povelones Lab at UPenn), students will work to generate a genome sequence for a laboratory strain of mosquito used in malaria research. To do this, students will learn basic bioinformatics skills and perform the wet lab steps from isolating the DNA to submitting the sample for sequencing. The class will discuss the background of malaria, current research and potential future global malaria goals to place the project in a broader context.