Thomas Lavstsen

A system for functional studies of the major virulence factor of malaria parasites

The paper develops a system to study PfEMP1, a key malaria parasite virulence factor, by generating parasites expressing a single PfEMP1 variant and enabling genome edits to investigate its function.

Plasmodium falciparum expresses fewer var genes at lower levels during asymptomatic dry season infections than clinical malaria cases

The paper compares var gene expression in asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum infections and clinical malaria cases during dry and wet seasons in Mali, finding fewer and lower-level var transcripts in asymptomatic carriers.

Differences in phenotype between long-lived memory B cells against Plasmodium falciparum merozoite antigens and variant surface antigens

Mosaic and cocktail capsid-virus-like particle vaccines for induction of antibodies against the EPCR-binding CIDRα1 domain of PfEMP1

This study tests mosaic cVLP vaccines against PfEMP1 CIDR1 domains in mice, finding comparable antibody responses to single-variant cocktails but no broad cross-reactivity.

A novel computational pipeline for var gene expression augments the discovery of changes in the Plasmodium falciparum transcriptome during transition from in vivo to short-term in vitro culture

The paper introduces a new computational pipeline for var gene expression analysis, showing changes in var gene expression and core transcriptome during in vitro culture of Plasmodium falciparum.

Gene expression profiling of malaria parasites reveals common virulence gene expression in adult first-time infected patients and severecases

The paper identifies PfEMP1 variants associated with severe malaria in first-time infected adults and non-severe cases using RNA-seq and var gene analysis.

Varia: Prediction, analysis and visualisation of variable genes

Varia predicts var gene sequences and domain compositions from short sequence tags, enabling analysis of var gene expression in Plasmodium falciparum.