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Researchers at KFSH&RC, KAUST Discover Gene Responsible for Reproduction of Severe Malaria Parasite

Researchers at KFSH&RC, KAUST Discover Gene Responsible for Reproduction of Severe Malaria Parasite
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Researchers at KFSH&RC, KAUST Discover Gene Responsible for Reproduction of Severe Malaria Parasite

Researchers at KFSH&RC, KAUST Discover Gene Responsible for Reproduction of Severe Malaria Parasite

Researchers at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), together with researchers from UK, US and India, have discovered a gene responsible for the reproduction of sickle malaria parasites in the red blood cells.

By disrupting this gene, the parasites stop reproducing as usual, reducing the symptoms of the disease and the spread of severe malaria, which kills more than half a million people annually.

Researchers made this discovery by using advanced laboratory techniques in the examination and identification of the molecules and genes of proteins involved in the sickle parasite cycle, in which a gene called PfAP2-MRP, which is "a vital upstream transcriptional regulator controlling essential processes in two distinct developmental stages during the IDC that include parasite growth", according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information of the National Library of Medicine, is disrupted, which significantly reduces the penetration of new human cells into the blood, and, in turn, contributes to reducing the symptoms of the disease and limiting the spread of infection among people.

Head of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at KFSH&RC in Jeddah and head researcher Dr. Ashraf Dada said: "The discovery paves the way for more effective medicines to treat sickle cell malaria, which is the most dangerous" of its forms.

He also said that the research provides for the scientific community a deeper understanding of how the disease develops and the response mechanism by the human immune system, thus contributing to efforts to combat the parasites causing the severe form of malaria, which is the deadliest and most prevalent in Africa.

The researchers also proved that the PfAP2-MRP gene controls the genes used by sickle cell parasites to form different new protein receptors in their genetic makeup, which circumvents the antibodies created by the immune system of the infected person, rendering them futile and causing the spread of malaria.

This study, published in the leading scientific journal Nature, was the result of cooperation between KFSH&RC and KAUST in conducting research that contributes to the discovery of innovative means to improve diagnosis in cases of infection with microbes, germs and parasites, in general, as well as to the prevention and treatment of diseases.

KFSH&RC is among the world's leading providers of specialist healthcare, a leader in innovation, and an advanced center in medical research and education. It seeks to develop medical technologies and improve healthcare globally in partnership with major local, regional and international institutions, and to offer world-class clinical, research and educational services.

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Varieties

'Extremely Exciting': The Ice Cores that Could Help Save Glaciers

A researcher cuts a slice from an ice core sample taken from a glacier in the Pamir mountain range in Tajikistan, at the Hokkaido University Institute of Low Temperature Science, in Sapporo, in northern Japan's Hokkaido prefecture on December 9, 2025. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)
A researcher cuts a slice from an ice core sample taken from a glacier in the Pamir mountain range in Tajikistan, at the Hokkaido University Institute of Low Temperature Science, in Sapporo, in northern Japan's Hokkaido prefecture on December 9, 2025. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)
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'Extremely Exciting': The Ice Cores that Could Help Save Glaciers

A researcher cuts a slice from an ice core sample taken from a glacier in the Pamir mountain range in Tajikistan, at the Hokkaido University Institute of Low Temperature Science, in Sapporo, in northern Japan's Hokkaido prefecture on December 9, 2025. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)
A researcher cuts a slice from an ice core sample taken from a glacier in the Pamir mountain range in Tajikistan, at the Hokkaido University Institute of Low Temperature Science, in Sapporo, in northern Japan's Hokkaido prefecture on December 9, 2025. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)

Dressed in an orange puffer jacket, Japanese scientist Yoshinori Iizuka stepped into a storage freezer to retrieve an ice core he hopes will help experts protect the world's disappearing glaciers.

The fist-sized sample drilled from a mountaintop is part of an ambitious international effort to understand why glaciers in Tajikistan have resisted the rapid melting seen almost everywhere else.

"If we could learn the mechanism behind the increased volume of ice there, then we may be able to apply that to all the other glaciers around the world," potentially even helping revive them, said Iizuka, a professor at Hokkaido University.

"That may be too ambitious a statement. But I hope our study will ultimately help people," he said.

Thousands of glaciers will vanish each year in the coming decades, leaving only a fraction standing by the end of the century unless global warming is curbed, a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change showed Monday.

Earlier this year, AFP exclusively accompanied Iizuka and other scientists through harsh conditions to a site at an altitude of 5,810 meters (about 19,000 feet) on the Kon-Chukurbashi ice cap in the Pamir Mountains.

The area is the only mountainous region on the planet where glaciers have not only resisted melting, but even slightly grown, a phenomenon called the "Pamir-Karakoram anomaly.”

The team drilled two ice columns approximately 105 meters (328 feet) long out of the glacier.

One is being stored in an underground sanctuary in Antarctica belonging to the Ice Memory Foundation, which supported the Tajikistan expedition along with the Swiss Polar Institute.

The other was shipped to Iizuka's facility, the Institute of Low Temperature Science at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, where the team is hunting clues on why precipitation in the region increased over the last century, and how the glacier has resisted melting.

Some link the anomaly to the area's cold climate or even increased use of agricultural water in Pakistan that creates more vapor.

But the ice cores are the first opportunity to examine the anomaly scientifically.
"Information from the past is crucial," said Iizuka.

"By understanding the causes behind the continuous build-up of snow from the past to the present, we can clarify what will happen going forward and why the ice has grown."

Since the samples arrived in November, his team has worked in freezing storage facilities to log the density, alignment of snow grains, and the structure of ice layers.

In December, when AFP visited, the scientists were kitted out like polar explorers to cut and shave ice samples in the comparatively balmy minus 20C of their lab.

The samples can tell stories about weather conditions going back decades, or even centuries.

A layer of clear ice indicates a warm period when the glacier melted and then refroze, while a low-density layer suggests packed snow, rather than ice, which can help estimate precipitation.

Brittle samples with cracks, meanwhile, indicate snowfall on half-melted layers that then refroze.

And other clues can reveal more information -- volcanic materials like sulfate ions can serve as time markers, while water isotopes can reveal temperatures.

The scientists hope that the samples contain material dating back 10,000 years or more, though much of the glacier melted during a warm spell around 6,000 years ago.

Ancient ice would help scientists answer questions such as "what kind of snow was falling in this region 10,000 years ago? What was in it?" Iizuka said.

"We can study how many and what kinds of fine particles were suspended in the atmosphere during that ice age," he added.

"I really hope there is ancient ice."

For now, the work proceeds slowly and carefully, with team members like graduate student Sora Yaginuma carefully slicing samples apart.

"An ice core is an extremely valuable sample and unique," said Yaginuma.

"From that single ice core, we perform a variety of analyses, both chemical and physical."

The team hopes to publish its first findings next year and will be doing "lots of trial-and-error" work to reconstruct past climate conditions, Iizuka said.

The analysis in Hokkaido will uncover only some of what the ice has to share, and with the other samples preserved in Antarctica, there will be opportunities for more research.

For example, he said, scientists could look for clues about how mining in the region historically affected the area's air quality, temperature and precipitation.

"We can learn how the Earth's environment has changed in response to human activities," Iizuka said.

With so many secrets yet to learn, the work is "extremely exciting," he added.

Varieties

Jane Austen Fans Celebrate the Author’s 250th Birthday in Britain and Beyond

One of the new British 10 pound notes is posed for photographs outside the Bank of England in the City of London, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (AP)
One of the new British 10 pound notes is posed for photographs outside the Bank of England in the City of London, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (AP)
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Jane Austen Fans Celebrate the Author’s 250th Birthday in Britain and Beyond

One of the new British 10 pound notes is posed for photographs outside the Bank of England in the City of London, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (AP)
One of the new British 10 pound notes is posed for photographs outside the Bank of England in the City of London, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (AP)

Fans of Jane Austen celebrated the acclaimed author's 250th birthday on Tuesday with a church service in her home village, festive visits to her house — and a virtual party for those paying tribute from afar.

Thousands of enthusiasts around the world have already taken part in a yearlong celebration of one of English literature’s greats, who penned “Pride and Prejudice," “Sense and Sensibility” and other beloved novels.

On Tuesday — to mark 250 years since she was born on Dec. 16, 1775 — Jane Austen’s House, in the southern English village of Chawton, hosted talks, tours and performances for dozens of visitors, with celebrations concluding with an online party for fans from all over the world.

“Regency dress strongly encouraged,” organizers said, adding that more than 500 people had signed up for the Zoom party.

The cottage, now a museum with Austen artifacts, was where the author lived for the last years of her life and where she wrote all six of her novels.

A church service featuring music and readings is held in Steventon, the rural village where she was born.

Fans, who call themselves “Janeites," have marked the anniversary year with Regency balls and festivals staged in the UK, US and beyond.

At the weekend, the city of Bath, where Austen lived for five years, hosted the Yuletide Jane Austen Birthday Ball, the finale of many grand costumed events held there this year.

Varieties

Thousands of Dinosaur Footprints Found on Alpine Cliffs Near Winter Olympics Site

The Director of the Stelvio Park, Franco Claretti, poses next to a reproduction of a dinosaur prior to a press conference in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, on a discovery of thousands of dinosaur tracks at the Stelvio Park. (AP)
The Director of the Stelvio Park, Franco Claretti, poses next to a reproduction of a dinosaur prior to a press conference in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, on a discovery of thousands of dinosaur tracks at the Stelvio Park. (AP)
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Thousands of Dinosaur Footprints Found on Alpine Cliffs Near Winter Olympics Site

The Director of the Stelvio Park, Franco Claretti, poses next to a reproduction of a dinosaur prior to a press conference in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, on a discovery of thousands of dinosaur tracks at the Stelvio Park. (AP)
The Director of the Stelvio Park, Franco Claretti, poses next to a reproduction of a dinosaur prior to a press conference in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, on a discovery of thousands of dinosaur tracks at the Stelvio Park. (AP)

Italian paleontologists have uncovered thousands of dinosaur footprints on a near-vertical rock face more than 2,000 meters above sea level in the Stelvio National Park, a discovery they say is among the world's richest sites for the Triassic period.

The tracks, some up to 40 cm wide and showing claw marks, stretch for about five kilometers in the high-altitude glacial Valle di Fraele near Bormio, one of the venues for the 2026 Winter Olympics in the northern region of Lombardy.

"This is one of the largest and oldest footprint sites in Italy, and among the most spectacular I've seen in 35 years," said Cristiano Dal Sasso, paleontologist at Milan's Natural History Museum in a press conference on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Lombardy Region.

Experts believe the prints were left by herds of long-necked herbivores, likely plateosaurs, more than 200 million years ago when the area was a warm lagoon, ideal for dinosaurs to roam along beaches, leaving tracks in the mud near the water.

"The footprints were impressed when the sediments were still soft, on the wide tidal flats that surrounded the Tethys Ocean," said Fabio Massimo Petti, ichnologist at MUSE museum of Trento, attending the same conference.

"The muds, now turned to rock, have allowed the preservation of remarkable anatomical details of the feet, such as impressions of the toes and even the claws," Petti added.

As the African plate gradually moved north, closing and drying up the Tethys Ocean, sedimentary rocks that formed the seabed were folded, creating the Alps.

The fossilized dinosaur footprints shifted from a horizontal position to the vertical one on a mountain slope spotted by a wildlife photographer in September while chasing deer and bearded vultures, experts said.

"The natural sciences deliver to the Milan-Cortina 2026 Games an unexpected and precious gift from remote eras," Giovanni Malagò, President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee told journalists.

The area cannot be reached by trails, so drones and remote sensing technologies will have to be used to study it.