Prof. Inari Kursula

Molecular mechanisms of parasite motility

Project Leader
Inari Kursula, Ph.D.

Affiliation
Biocenter Oulu and Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland and Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
 

About the project

Our work is aimed at a mechanistic understanding of gliding motility, which malaria parasites and their relatives use for getting to and invading their host cells. We use a broad range of biochemical, biophysical and structural biology methods for creating a complete molecular picture of the parasite actin-myosin motor and the entire glideosome. We also want to understand the evolution of apicomplexan gliding motility and eukaryotic actin-myosin motors in a broader sense. Understanding the mechanistic differences in cell motility between parasites and humans may, furthermore, open up new avenues for treatment and/or prevention of malaria.