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Collection and Cryopreservation of Plasmodium falciparum Clinical Isolates in the Field

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Malaria Immunology

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2470))

Abstract

P. falciparum causes the most severe form of malaria in younger children and pregnant women. In vitro culture systems allow researchers to understand parasite biology, elucidate mechanism of host immunity and test efficacy of antimalarial agents or vaccines in preclinical studies. Most laboratory-adapted parasite strains predate the emergence of artemisinin-based drug combinations and mainly originate from Asia or Europe. To fully understand the biochemical and phenotypic characteristics of parasites, it is imperative that researchers are able to culture parasites circulating in an area to unravel any geographical differences at the population level. Ex vivo culturing of clinical isolates can be challenging when collecting samples in the field and requires technical expertise and equipment. To overcome this challenge, clinical isolates are cryopreserved in the field and transported to a laboratory for in vitro studies. In this protocol, we describe different methods of cryopreserving P. falciparum isolates in the field and thawing them for subsequent in vitro culture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

    Frederica Dedo Partey, Augustina Frimpong & Michael Fokuo Ofori

Authors
  1. Frederica Dedo Partey
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  2. Augustina Frimpong
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  3. Michael Fokuo Ofori
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Correspondence to Michael Fokuo Ofori .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Medical Parasitology, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Anja Tatiana Ramstedt Jensen

  2. Centre for Medical Parasitology, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Lars Hviid

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Partey, F.D., Frimpong, A., Ofori, M.F. (2022). Collection and Cryopreservation of Plasmodium falciparum Clinical Isolates in the Field. In: Jensen, A.T.R., Hviid, L. (eds) Malaria Immunology. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2470. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2189-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2189-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-2188-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-2189-9

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