Undergraduate Research & Scholarships

Hani Liu

Circadian rhythm of malaria parasites

At the Rijo-Ferreira Lab, we carry out research on malaria parasites, endeavoring to understand how they keep time. One of the hallmarks of the malaria disease is its rhythmic fevers, making our research relevant to the development of circadian medicine, such as methods of time-of-day drug administration. Specifically, this summer, I will investigate how sporozoite-stage (the stage found in the mosquito) malaria parasites’ motility, gene expression, and invasion efficiency into liver cells vary at different times of the day.

 

Message To Sponsor

Thanks so much! Coming from a family with no science background, your support means that I get the privilege to engage in a field that I could have never imagined myself doing and also the privilege of exposing my family to a field they were unable to pursue. As a child of immigrant parents, this means a lot!