Women scientists are reshaping the fight against malaria

Malaria has shadowed human civilization for millennia, with its characteristic fevers documented in ancient Egyptian medical texts and its very name derived from the Italian phrase for bad air, reflecting a time when the disease was blamed on miasmas rising from swamps. It was not until 1880 that the French physician Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran identified the true culprit: single-celled Plasmodium parasites gliding through human blood. That discovery launched a scientific campaign to understand, prevent, and treat one of humanity’s oldest scourges. But because science and higher education were almost exclusively male pursuits at the time, the early field of malariology was propelled overwhelmingly by men. A new editorial published in Frontiers in Malaria argues that this historical framing obscures a crucial truth: women have been shaping malaria research since the field’s earliest days, and their involvement has steadily grown in both number and importance over the last century.

The editorial, authored by Alena Pance of the University of Hertfordshire, Elena Gómez-Díaz of the Spanish National Research Council in Granada, and Sarah Reece of the University of Edinburgh, accompanies a Research Topic dedicated to showcasing the varied work of female scientists across every area of malaria research. The editors trace a lineage of pioneering women stretching back to the late nineteenth century, when Anna Fraentzel Celli, working within the celebrated Italian School of Malariology, championed public health education as a means of preventing malaria and other infectious diseases. In the 1930s and 1940s, Ann Bishop worked extensively on chemotherapy for malaria and the mechanisms of drug resistance, while Ernestine H.B. Thurman led a vector control programme in the United States. By the mid-twentieth century, Mabel Josephine Mackerras was unraveling the mosquito stages of Plasmodium parasites, their transmission dynamics, and the measures needed to control them.

Perhaps the most consequential early contribution came from Ruth Nussenzweig, who pioneered the concept of antimalarial vaccination by demonstrating that mice injected with attenuated sporozoites were protected against subsequent infection. That approach, first established decades ago in animal models, is still pursued today in the effort to prevent human disease. The last decade brought another milestone: the first malaria-related Nobel Prize awarded to a woman. Tu Youyou was recognized for identifying and isolating artemisinin, the active ingredient derived from the Chinese medicinal plant Artemisia annua, which remains the most effective treatment for malaria infections to this day. The editors argue that these achievements, far from being isolated exceptions, form part of a continuous thread of female scientific leadership in the field.

Over the last century of intense research, the malaria community has achieved remarkable progress in understanding parasite, vector, and host biology, host-parasite interactions, transmission, and population dynamics. The advent of next-generation sequencing, single-cell and stem cell technologies, gene editing, and advanced imaging, together with breakthroughs in computational biology, has transformed the field and opened multiple new areas of study. In parallel, the last decade has seen growing attention paid to the hidden variability of parasites circulating in endemic areas, revealing the necessity of more representative reference genomes and more realistic laboratory models. Enormous databases of field parasite isolates and vectors from around the world, such as those assembled by MalariaGEN, now provide a detailed picture of the striking biology and diversity of these organisms. Yet despite these advances, efforts to control malaria have reached a plateau, and the continuous emergence and spread of resistance to antimalarial drugs and insecticides worldwide has made the development of next-generation interventions a hot priority.

One of the areas that has exploded in terms of applying the entire portfolio of novel technologies is the mosquito vector itself. New knowledge about vector biology, ecology, and adaptation potential is becoming increasingly critical in the context of climate change and globalization. Within the Research Topic, a better understanding of regulatory mechanisms of gene expression, such as alternative splicing, and the identification of candidate genes and regulatory sequences could offer novel strategies for vector control. Of critical importance is the development of the parasite within the vector: recent work reveals that oocyst development is highly adapted to the nutritional state of the mosquito, a finding with significant implications for how parasite transmission is modeled. Furthermore, models integrating parasite stages within both the host and the vector link gametocyte density in the host to transmission potential after vector passage, allowing more realistic estimations of how efficiently the parasite moves between hosts.

The genetic diversity of both the parasites and the mosquitoes that carry them is a central challenge for control. Variation in the mosquito population shapes malaria transmission, seasonal persistence, and geographical range. Not only the genetic diversity of the major mosquito species harbouring the parasite but also the number of species capable of transmitting the disease contribute to the persistence and spread of malaria. This means that tools targeting specific genes or gene drive strategies need to take genetically divergent species into account to be effective. The evaluation of control measures for monitoring the evolution of resistance among mosquito populations relies on capturing field mosquitoes at different life stages. A mathematical model assessed the value of adult-capture as a tool to monitor insecticide resistance, showing that this approach is both effective and relatively easy to apply in the field.

Most clinical repercussions of malaria infection stem from the erythrocytic stages of the parasite, when Plasmodium invades and remodels red blood cells. Novel technologies such as optical tweezers provide detailed insight into the infection of erythrocytes, showing membrane rigidification as the parasite grows, and also of surrounding uninfected erythrocytes in culture. Interestingly, widely used antimalarials increase the rigidity of infected erythrocytes, but only when the parasite strains are sensitive to the particular drug being applied. While mathematical models of blood infection dynamics are very useful, measuring erythrocyte and reticulocyte densities revealed that novel formulations are needed to reflect them more accurately. The development of the parasite in the blood is highly synchronous, a characteristic of the Plasmodium genus that is important for disease progression and control. An analysis using a model that accounts for population dynamics and infection kinetics to quantify synchrony showed that strains and environments can be compared in this way, informing evolutionary drivers and the role of synchrony in disease.

The tools available to control malaria include diagnostic methods to detect the disease, targeting the infection in patients with drug combinations, and preventing infection mainly through vaccine development and vector control. All these tools are constantly challenged by the genetic diversity of parasites and vectors, drug resistance, and environmental factors. Indeed, evaluation of rapid diagnostic test accuracy in Uganda showed a high proportion, approximately twenty percent, of false positive results. This level of sensitivity risks inappropriate treatment and underdiagnosis of other illnesses, highlighting the need for constant improvement and updating of diagnostic tools. One of the novel options to assess drug resistance, Ion Torrent deep sequencing, can effectively assess the haplotypes of the most important drug resistance genes and even detect changes in allele frequency throughout the course of an infection, potentially offering a straightforward technique to monitor drug efficacy. Even comparison of reference genomes of Plasmodium vivax, focusing on drug resistance genes, revealed allelic variations between them that should be taken into account when establishing detection and vaccine development strategies for this species of parasite.

The strategy that has proven most effective to control and reduce transmission of malaria has been the distribution of insecticide-impregnated bed nets. However, the efficacy of bed nets has been declining due to rising insecticide resistance. A measure to counter this is next-generation bed nets with a second pyrethroid chemistry. Assessment of three World Health Organization-recommended classes of these dual-active nets showed that they outperform traditional ones. However, variability in outcomes across Africa points to the need for a regional approach for the best control strategy. Similarly, the local approach to controlling malaria was highlighted by researchers who used statistical modelling to analyse the effect of local climate and spatial variations in factors such as land use, entomological features, temperature, and rainfall on malaria transmission. Finally, all measures to control the disease have to include local communities to understand the specific needs and requirements for any strategy to be effective, as described by the One Health approach.

This Research Topic is only a small sample of the amazing work of women in the effort to bring malaria under control. It demonstrates the extensive involvement of women scientists in innovative and important work across the breadth of malaria research, unraveling unknowns and discovering new approaches. The hope, the editors conclude, is that this insight will serve as inspiration for women to continue their efforts and encourage men and academic institutions to support, value, celebrate, and disseminate their contributions. As malaria control efforts confront a plateau in progress and the relentless spread of drug and insecticide resistance, the editors argue that the field cannot afford to overlook half of its scientific talent. The women who pioneered vaccination concepts, isolated the world’s most effective antimalarial drug, and continue to drive innovation in vector biology, diagnostics, and transmission modeling are not merely participants in the fight against malaria; they are among its most vital architects.

Subject of Research: A Frontiers in Malaria editorial highlights the contributions of women scientists across malaria research, from vector biology and diagnostics to drug resistance and bed net efficacy.

Article Title: Editorial: Women in malaria research

Article References: Pance, A., Gómez-Díaz, E., & Reece, S. (2025). Editorial: Women in malaria research. Frontiers in Malaria, 3, Article 1725748. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmala.2025.1725748

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fmala.2025.1725748

Keywords: malaria, Plasmodium, women in science, vector control, drug resistance, diagnostics, vaccines, Editorial, Women, research, scientific research