Malaria expert to deliver Ritter lecture Jan. 29

UGA welcomes one of the world's most tireless researchers on malaria to present the annual Ritter Lecture:

Alan Cowman, head of the Division of Infection and Immunity at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and a professor in the department of medical biology at the University of Melbourne, Australia, will talk on "Moving and Renovating: Invasion and Remodeling of the Human Erythrocyte by the Malaria Parasite." The lecture is free and open to the public.

Malaria causes suffering and death for millions of people in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The primary aim of Cowman's work is to understand how the P. falciparum parasite infects humans and the mechanisms it uses to evade host immune responses. Potential vaccines for malaria are targeted to the various stages of the P. falciparum life cycle.

"Alan Cowman is a leader in the global fight against malaria," said Boris Striepen, a Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator in the UGA Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases and professor in the department of cellular biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "His research has made important contributions to understanding drug resistance and host manipulation in malaria, and his group has developed much of the technology used today to study malaria and trained many of the top researchers in the field."

Malaria is a scourge effecting millions worldwide and Dr. Cowman's group has achieved real progress on developing a vaccine for the disease. The Center for Tropical and Emerging Diseases and the Ritter Lecture are making important contributions to public health, and the Franklin College is glad to support this forum for information and engaging experts of public health issues.