Development of a Sporozoite Malaria Vaccine

Abstract

Before I start I remind you that parasitologists used to complain that their discipline was a neglected one, and that few students were choosing parasitology as their major area of study. Parasitology may still be neglected from the point of view of funding, but from what I have observed during this meeting, it is not neglected anymore by bright students. An indication of the attractiveness of parasitology to the young is that there is now a punk rock group called “Malaria.” For those who find this hard to believe, I brought a photograph of the cover of their most recent album (Fig. 1). As you see, Malaria is a rock group of women. This is appropriate, since only female mosquitoes transmit malaria. In this lecture I will be the spokesman, not only for Ruth, but also for a large number of colleagues and students at several institutions who collaborated in the sporozoite vaccine project.