Microengineering targets Malaria
ASME reports: “Unlike other tropical diseases, malaria continues to confound researchers searching for a cure to a disease that affects 10% of the world’s population, kills some one million people per year, and debilitates millions more. Seeking a vaccine or drug that will kill the malaria parasite before it is able to fully develop, scientists at the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, and Draper Laboratories, Cambridge, MA, are collaborating to build a device that mimics the human liver, the spot where the parasite settles after it enters the body.
“Bioengineering teams using microfluidic devices to build a three-dimensional structure on which to grow cells hope to study the growth and development of the parasite in its dormant stage, where it is easier to target and, theoretically, destroy.”
