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Host-Pathogen Interactions
Researchers working in the area
Area Leader Hernando del Portillo
Pedro L. Alonso, Joaquim Gascon, Clara Menéndez, Ivo Mueller, Jaume Ordi, Jordi Vila, Alfred Cortés, Carlota Dobaño, Alfredo Mayor, Denise Naniche, Joaquim Ruiz, Quique Bassat, Carmen Fernández-Becerra, Xavier FernándezBusquets, Luis Izquierdo, Jose Muñoz, Krijn Paaijmans, Ignasi Roca, Sara Soto, Núria Antón, Anna Fàbrega, Lorena Martin, Gemma Moncunill, Pilar Requena, Clara Ballesté, María Bernabeu, Patricia de Molina, Paula Espinal, Mireia Ferrer, Elisabet Guiral, Yuly López, Ariel Magallón Maria Joana A Marques, Sofía Mira, Ernest Moles, Laura Moro, Noraida Mosqueda, Claudia Paradela, Maria Jesús Pons, Emma Rey, Emma Saez, Silvia Sanz, Cèlia Serna, Mar Solé, Patricia Urbán, Xavier Vila, Laura Puyol, Diana Barrios, Pau Cisteró, Alfons Jiménez, Laura Muñoz, Miriam Ramírez, Núria Rovira
Main results of 2012 • Associations between Southeast Asian Ovalocytosis and protection against Plasmodium vivax by a mechanism that is independent of the Duffy antigen was reported. This finding opens new avenues for vaccine development against this human malarial parasite. • Histopathological studies further support the idea that, contrary to the widely accepted belief, there is cytoadhesion of P. vivax-infected reticulocytes to human endothelia in different organs including the placenta and the spleen. • Undetected P. falciparum infections during pregnancy using standard diagnostic methods (microscopy, placental histology and HRP2-based) were associated with maternal anaemia, highlighting the urgent need for more accurate malaria diagnostic tools for pregnant women to avoid the negative clinical impact of hidden infections.
Main lines of Research in 2012 • Naturally-acquired and vaccine-induced protection • Antigen discovery and vaccine development • Drug discovery and Targeted Drug Delivery • Control of gene expression • Molecular mechanisms of drug resistance • Molecular and serological markers of disease • Immune responses and markers in co-infections • Molecular basis of pathology • Vertical transmission of infectious diseases • Vector biology
cresib
• CRESIB participated in a multi-centre, interdisciplinary study of immunodominant CD8(+) T cell epitopes in parasite paraflagellar rod proteins. Identification of MHC class I epitopes inducing immune responses open possibilities for designing vaccines against T. cruzi. • The use of MALDI-TOF MS to identify members of the Acinetobacter baummannii group demonstrated rapid and accurate identification of clinically
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