John LaPorte Given Professor, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA
Associate Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Team Leader, MESA-International Center for Excellence in Malaria Research
Dr. Duraisingh has been at the Harvard School of Public Health since 2002, and is a professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases.
He obtained a B.A. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford, and M.Sc and Ph.D. degrees in Molecular Parasitology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, conducting research on the molecular basis of drug-resistance in the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Dr. Duraisingh then pursued postdoctoral research in molecular parasitology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, Australia, studying the fundamental parasitic processes of host cell invasion and antigenic variation in P. falciparum.
Dr. Duraisingh’s research program at the HSPH focuses on the biology of host-parasite interactions in malaria. His laboratory develops and applies the latest genetic technologies associated with Plasmodium spp. and red blood cells to elucidate and study the critical interactions between the host cell and malaria parasites. In addition to a primary focus on P. falciparum, significant efforts are being made towards establishing in vitro blood-stage culture and genetic systems for the study and transmission of other human Plasmodium parasites, including P. vivax and P. knowlesi, as well as babesia parasites. Dr. Duraisingh is also engaged in collaborative studies in malaria-endemic areas, in particular in India, with projects focused on the biology and pathogenesis of P. vivax and P. falciparum parasites in natural populations.