• Question: in your opinion, how long will it take you to have a complete analysis of how malaria infects red blood cells?

    Asked by brainteaser to Julian on 15 Mar 2011.
    • Photo: Julian Rayner

      Julian Rayner answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      Hi brainteaser.

      A complete analysis? Probably would take longer than my research career.

      More important than a complete analysis though is an understanding of which bits of the process are essential, and could be targeted by drugs/vaccines, and which bits the parasite can live without. There is a lot of redundancy in most living organisms, and understanding the really important bits is the biggest priority. You don’t work on an organism like malaria parasites without fundamentally wanting to kill it. I would be happy if we never have a complete analysis of the process – just as long as we can figure out a way to stop it.

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