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If you are aged 18 to 45 years old, in good health and live in the Thames Valley, then you may be eligible to take part in the BIO-004 study.

The total study duration is 20 months.

All participants will be reimbursed for their time, inconvenience and travel up to £9,955 

Email: info@ovg.ox.ac.uk

Tel: 01865 611400

Background

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite and is a major public health problem in many parts of the world. Malaria is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. There are five species of the Plasmodium parasite that are known to cause malaria in humans. Of these five species, Plasmodium falciparum causes the most sickness and death  globally, with an estimated 241 million cases of malaria and 619,000 deaths worldwide in 2021. Most of the deaths from malaria occur in children under five living in Africa, with infants under one year being at the highest risk.

An important study conducted in Tanzania showed that while the amount of malaria parasite in the blood remains constant over the first few malaria infections in life, the risk of severe disease and hospitalisation decreases significantly with each infection. This study concluded that rather than killing the malaria parasite, the immune system developed the ability to ‘tolerate’ the presence of the malaria parasite in the body after repeated infections. This limits the damage the infection causes. While this was an important finding, the way the immune system actually “tolerates” the malaria parasite remains unknown.

Study information

In order to better understand how the immune system adapts to tolerate the malaria parasite after repeated malaria infections, we are recruiting people to undergo three malaria “challenges” approximately five months apart. In a malaria “challenge”, study participants are deliberately infected with malaria under very carefully regulated conditions. This means we will know the exact moment of infection and will be able to track the immune response that follows. We will observe participants closely and take blood daily to measure the parasite growth in their blood and analyse the immune response. Once participants develop malaria (confirmed by detecting parasites in the blood), we will start malaria treatment to clear the infection.

In addition to this, we will ask participants to undertake a few additional tasks as part of the study. After either the first, or third malaria challenge, participants will be asked to drink a small amount of a substance called ”heavy” water daily for 2–3 weeks. Participants will also receive one dose of the licensed yellow fever vaccine during the study and be asked to undergo one bone marrow test. The bone marrow test uses a needle to take a sample of bone marrow. This may cause some discomfort. All of these procedures help to “track” activated immune cells so we can investigate how they respond to the malaria infections and will be fully explained to you.

If you would like to find out more, please read the Participant Information Sheet. If you are interested in joining the study, please visit here

Pre-Screening Questionnaire

where you can access the online screening questions and register your interest. This questionnaire takes around 5-10 min to complete.

Alternatively, if you would like to speak to a member of study team about this study, please leave your name and contact details below.

Please provide an email address and a telephone number in order to for us to contact you

There is no obligation to participate in any study and you are free to request removal of your details at any time. For more information about how your details are stored, please refer to the Participant Information Sheet

1. VIDEO ABOUT THE BIO-004 STUDY
2. VIDEO ABOUT MALARIA CHALLENGE STUDIES – FROM PREVIOUS TRIAL PARTICIPANTS
3. PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET
4. PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET – VISUAL SUMMARY