Pradipsinh Rathod
Pradipsinh Rathod’s research project Malaria Evolution in South Asia, which aims to slow the spread of malaria by analyzing its genetics, was renewed by the National Institutes of Health.
The NIH has renewed a major grant that funds a University of Washington-led research center to understand malaria in India.
The initiative — Malaria Evolution in South Asia, which was first funded in 2010 — is one of 10 NIH-supported International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research, or ICEMRs. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced that it would provide $9.3 million in funds to the South Asia ICEMR over the next seven years, beginning July 1, 2017.
South Asia sits in the middle of the malaria corridor that cuts from Southeast Asia to Africa.
“India is a country of critical importance for understanding the spread of virulent malaria globally,” said Pradipsinh K. Rathod, a UW professor of chemistry and the director of the Malaria Evolution in South Asia ICEMR. “While most deaths caused by drug-resistant strains of malaria have occurred in Africa, most drug-resistant parasites arise first in Asia.”