Researchers at the University of Maryland have catalogued the genetic difference among the mosquitoes responsible for spreading malaria. By mapping these difference, designers of vaccines can work to formulate a drug that is effective.

“This brings us one step closer to being able to design a broadly protective malaria vaccine,” says Dr. Takala. “Though there are medications that are used to treat malaria, drug resistance is a recurring problem. An effective vaccine could help us eliminate malaria altogether, a public health goal that is attracting more global support than ever before.”

“In addition to its home campus in Baltimore, the University of Maryland School of Medicine employs hundreds of researchers in 23 countries around the globe,” says E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., dean of the School of Medicine, vice president for medical affairs of the University of Maryland and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. “This study is an example of how our global footprint allows School of Medicine researchers to study diseases such as malaria in the very regions of the world in which they are devastating to the population.”

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