The clinical manifestation of malaria starts when parasites invade human red blood cells (RBCs) and feed on haemoglobin, releasing a toxic by-product, polymerized by the parasite into the inert crystal hemozoin. Hemozoin formation is vital for parasite survival, and its content inside the RBC increases with the disease progression, which makes it a unique target for diagnosis and treatment. Knowing that haemoglobin and hemozoin proportion relates inversely along with disease progression and originate specific optical spectra, we propose to exploit the potential of optical reflectance spectrophotometry into Plasmodium falciparum-infected RBCs, aiming for the development of a diagnostic device capable to be used in low resource settings with no blood sampling request. This project includes the test of sensitivity and optical characterization of parasites inside the RBCs, in the visible range of the optical spectrum, which will lead to the identification and selection of a limited number of discrete spectral bands able to reconstruct the optical information of the samples, aiming the development of a portable, non-invasive, eco-friendly and low-cost diagnostic device, able to rapidly detect low-level parasitaemia at the point-of-care.
Furthermore, using reverse genetics and other genetic tools, this project focus on studying players of Hz formation pathway, as most of the antimalarial drugs have a mechanism of action/resistance somehow related with the pathway. We explect to uncover features that hopefully allow the screening of phenotypic variations, that will increase diagnosis specificity. Moreover, the elucidation of haem detoxification pathway might also contribute to the discovery of new targets for therapeutics.