Jessica Briggs
University of California-San Francisco, CA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Children who grow up where malaria is common slowly build natural immunity. That immunity is very good at preventing serious disease once it forms.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
malaria
Plasmodium falciparum
naturally acquired immunity
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through May 2031
What they work on
- Genotype every Plasmodium falciparum infection in a Ugandan birth cohort of 924 children to estimate the molecular force of infection (the rate at which new parasite clones establish infection) and compare children given DP chemoprevention with those given placebo.
- Distinguish new from persistent malaria infections using ultra-sensitive qPCR and amplicon sequencing, then test whether children who received DP chemoprevention are more likely to develop symptoms from a new infection after the drug stops.
- Profile antibodies against the parasite's liver stage (before it reaches the blood) and its blood stage over time, using long peptide arrays and bead arrays, and use feature selection to find antibody combinations linked to protection from malaria.
- Test whether serologic measures (antibody levels in the blood) from cross-sectional surveys at 64 Ugandan sites estimate malaria incidence in children under 5 better than models based on parasite prevalence.
- Build statistical models using parasite DNA-based measures from qPCR and amplicon deep-sequencing to estimate malaria incidence, and identify which markers best predict year-to-year changes in incidence.
More about the research
But the tools used to protect young children, such as giving them antimalarial drugs on a schedule, may change how this immunity develops. And in places like Uganda, health systems often lack accurate data on how much malaria is actually circulating. Both projects use molecular clues from blood samples to answer these questions. One clue is the parasite's DNA; the other is the antibodies, or immune proteins, that children make against it. Both projects study Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest malaria parasite, in Ugandan children.
Why it matters
Malaria remains a leading threat to young children in high-burden countries such as Uganda. This work could show whether giving children antimalarial drugs early on helps or harms the immunity they later rely on. That evidence could guide how chemoprevention and future vaccines are delivered. Better molecular surveillance tools could also help health programs measure malaria more accurately in places with weak health infrastructure, so they can direct bednets and other control measures to where they are needed most.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ross Boyce
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Public Health & Epidemiology
Determine the feasibility and acceptability of focal mass drug administration with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) for household members of pregnant women, through a three-arm randomized pilot at a rural Ugandan health center.
Bryan Greenhouse
University of California-San Francisco, CA·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Determine how a person's existing anti-PfEMP1 antibodies and the var genes a parasite first switches on together shape the outcome of new Plasmodium falciparum infections, using plasma, RNA sequencing and clinical records from a Ugandan cohort.
Evelien Bunnik
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX·Microbiology & Immunology
Identify which atypical B cell subsets are linked to protection against malaria, using spectral flow cytometry on malaria-experienced children matched for age and exposure but differing in immunity.
The school
University of California-San Francisco: 89 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 164 research doctorates a year.
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