Our Projects

During the asexual stage of the life cycle, Plasmodium falciparum replicates via schizogony, a division mode that can be divided into a growth phase and a budding phase.

During the growth phase, the parasite undergoes multiple asynchronous rounds of mitosis with the segregation of uncondensed chromosomes followed by nuclear division with an intact nuclear envelope. The budding phase occurs when the multi-nucleated syncytium is subjected to an asynchronous round of karyokinesis, coinciding with the segmentation of dozens of daughter cells known as merozoites (see figure).

How does each nucleus cycle independently?

How do nuclei maintain independent cell cycle stages within a common cytoplasm?

What evolutionary advantage does asynchronous mitosis bring to Plasmodium spp asexual replication?

P. falciparum parasites undergo extensive morphological changes throughout their life cycle within the human host, enabling them to survive, reproduce, and transmit.

Although the liver stage of the Plasmodium life cycle is an obligatory step to human infection, how nuclear and cell division occurs within the hepatocyte is another biological black box of Plasmodium biology.

Sporozoite formation and salivary gland invasion are critical and fascinating cell biology processes but poorly understood. The small size of sporozoites makes it challenging to observe subcellular organization using conventional microscopy. To better understand the cellularisation of sporozoites and their invasion of salivary glands, we used ultrastructural expansion microscopy (U-ExM).

Each schizont-stage parasite produces dozen daughter cells, each around 1.5 µm in length and 1 µm in diameter. To study the dynamic of the nuclear envelope during the nuclear division of the malaria blood-stage parasite, we need to monitor cellular events at the microscopic scale.

To tackle this challenge, we will deploy a recently-developed technique named ExM for Expansion Microscopy that enables us to expand preserved cells isotropically via a chemical process physically.

For instance, the improved resolution of U-ExM in ookinetes (4.2 fold increase in the linear dimension) allowed for the first time to observe a reminiscent of a conoid above the apical polar ring.

Our team is at the forefront of efforts to advance microscopy approaches to identify the molecular players that regulate DNA segregation and nuclear multiplication during Plasmodium life cycles.