Malaria: Mechanisms of Immunity & Protection (C4)
March 30-April 2, 2025 | Eldorado Hotel & Spa, Santa Fe, NM, United States
Silvia Portugal, Marion Pepper and Melissa Chola Kapulu
Scholarship Deadline: Jan. 30, 2025 | Abstract Deadline: Mar. 7, 2025 | Early Registration Deadline: Feb. 19, 2025
* Session Chair † Invited but not yet accepted | Program current as of August 23, 2025 4 AM | For the most up-to-date details, visit https://www.keystonesymposia.org
Sunday, March 30, 2025
4:00–8:00 PM Registration Concourse
6:00–8:00 PM Welcome Mixer Cava Santa Fe
Monday, March 31, 2025
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Anasazi Ballroom
7:30–8:00 AM Poster Setup Anasazi Ballroom
7:45–7:00 PM Poster Viewing Anasazi Ballroom
8:00–9:00 AM Welcome and Keynote Address Eldorado Ballroom
  * Silvia Portugal, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology
 
  * Marion Pepper, University of Washington
 
  * Melissa Chola Kapulu, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme
 
  Lars Hviid, University of Copenhagen
Making Heads or Tails of it: Thoughts on Protective Immunity to Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria
 
9:00–11:00 AM Surviving Severe Malaria: The Quick Fix Protection Eldorado Ballroom
  * Kattria van der Ploeg, Stanford University
Session Chair
 
  Abdirahman I Abdi, Kenya Medical Research Institute(KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Programme
Plasmodium falciparum Extracellular Vesicles in Malaria Pathogenesis and Immunity
 
  Maria Bernabeu, European Molecular Biology Laboratory
In vitro 3D Blood-Brain Barrier Model and Cerebral Malaria
 
  Sai Sundar Rajan Raghavan, The Scripps Research Institute
Short Talk: Broadly Inhibitory Antibodies against Severe Malaria Associated PfEMP1
 
  Joy Kabagenyi, University of Glasgow
Short Talk: Innocent Residents or Drivers of Immune Reprogramming: Employing Single Cell and Spatial Transcriptomics to Elucidate Plasmodium Driven Immune Changes in the Bone Marrow and Spleen of Mice
 
  Cecilia E Lekpor, Morehouse School of Medicine
Short Talk: Neuregulin-1 Mitigates Heme-Induced Vascular Injury in iPSC-Derived Endothelial Cells Generated from Children with Various Hemoglobin Genotypes
 
9:30–9:50 AM Coffee Break Concourse
11:15–12:30 PM Lunch Anasazi Ballroom
12:00–2:30 PM Poster Session 1 Anasazi Ballroom
2:30–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 1: Research presentations selected from abstract submissions Eldorado Ballroom
  * Maria del Pilar Crespo-Ortiz, Universidad del Valle
Session Chair
 
  * Oscar K Kai, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Program
Session Chair
 
  Lauren Holz, University of Melbourne
Development of a Tissue-targeted Malaria mRNA Vaccine
 
  Lauren Jatt, University of Washington
Cytokines Associated with Moderate and Severe Adverse Events and Parasitemia Following Vaccination with Chemo-attenuated Plasmodium Falciparum Sporozoite Vaccine
 
  Caroline Kijogi, Mount Kenya University
Placental Malaria Infection is Associated with Downregulation of STAT-6 and ANG-1 in Decidual Macrophages
 
  Manish Tripathi, All India Institute of Medical sciences
PvTRAg36.6 – CD71 along with Lipid Interaction Study - New Insight of Plasmodium Vivax Invasion into Human Reticulocyte
 
  Luis M Molinos-Albert, ISGlobal
Potent Human Antibodies to the Major NANP Repeat Region of Plasmodium Falciparum Circumsporozoite Protein from RTS,S/AS01E Vaccinated African Children
 
  Courtney McDougal, University of Washington
Memory B Cells Specific to the Plasmodium Circumsporozoite Protein have Limited Ability to Self-renew, Leading to Memory Depletion after Repeated Exposure
 
  Kaylee Norman, University of Iowa
Metabolic Regulation of Atypical Memory B Cell Development and Affinity Maturation during Malaria
 
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Concourse
5:00–7:00 PM Slow Cooking Naturally Acquired Immunity & Repeated Malaria Cases Eldorado Ballroom
  * Margaret Feeney, University of California, San Francisco
Session Chair
 
  Gordon A Awandare, University of Ghana
How the Immune System Develops Tolerance to Plasmodium falciparum
 
  Amy K Bei, Yale School of Public Health
Low and Slow: Investigating Mechanisms of Strain-Specific and Strain-Transcendent Naturally-Acquired Immunity
 
  Marion Pepper, University of Washington
Protective CSP-specific Memory B Cells Decline with Repeated Immunization or Infection in Humans and Mice
 
  Noah S. Butler, University of Iowa
Function of Plasmodium Parasite-Specific B Cells and T Cells During Malaria
 
7:00–8:00 PM On Own for Dinner
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Anasazi Ballroom
8:00–11:00 AM Upgrading Malaria Immunity: NextGenVaccine Approaches Eldorado Ballroom
  * Stefan Kappe, Seattle Children's Research Institute
Development of Genetically Engineered Whole Parasite Vaccines for Malaria
 
  Brandon Wilder, Oregon Health and Science University
MHC and Malaria Immunity
 
  Melissa Chola Kapulu, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme
Immunity and protection in CHMI
 
  Ashley M. Vaughan, Seattle Children's Research Institute
Short Talk: Using Plasmodium Falciparum Experimental Genetic Crosses to Create Efficacious Pan-African Genetically Attenuated Parasite Vaccines
 
  Justin Boddey, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Short Talk: Long-acting Antimalarials that Attenuate Very-late Liver-stages for Malaria Chemovaccination
 
  Bryce Chackerian, University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Short Talk: Virus-like Particle Based Vaccines Targeting the L9 Epitope in CSP Provide Strong Sterilizing Protection for Malaria Infection in a Mouse Challenge Model
 
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break Concourse
9:20–9:25 AM Award Recipient Acknowledgement Eldorado Ballroom
11:00–1:00 PM Poster Setup Anasazi Ballroom
11:00–5:00 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Anasazi Ballroom
3:30–4:30 PM Career Roundtable Eldorado Ballroom
  Amy K Bei, Yale School of Public Health
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
 
  Gordon A Awandare, University of Ghana
Professor
 
  Aurelio Bonavia, Gates Medical Research Institute
Vaccine/Monoclonal Development
 
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Concourse
5:00–7:00 PM Bypassing the Development of Malaria Immunity and Then What? Eldorado Ballroom
  * James Huleatt, Gates Medical Research Institute
Session Chair
 
  Kassoum Kayentao, University of Bamako
Remote Presentation: mAB Trials in Seasonal Settings
 
  Azza Idris, Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard
Leveraging Potent Monoclonal Antibodies to Guide the Design of Next-Generation Malaria Vaccines
 
  Hedda Wardemann, German Cancer Research Center
Molecular and Functional Properties of Human Plasmodium falciparum CSP C-terminus Antibodies
 
  Paul Heinrich Gerstenhöfer, Institute for Research in Biomedicine Bellinzona
Short Talk: Exploration of the Infected RBC Immunosurfaceome as a Tool for Anti-Plasmodium Antibody Discovery
 
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Lite Bites Anasazi Ballroom
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 2 Anasazi Ballroom
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Anasazi Ballroom
8:00–11:00 AM Shoot the Messenger: Blocking Mosquitos and Malaria Transmission Eldorado Ballroom
  * George O Ademowo, Institute for Advanced Medical Research and Training
Session Chair
 
  Issaka Sagara, Malaria Research and Training Center
Remote Presentation: Malaria: Transmission Blocking Vaccine (TBV), Field Results and the Combination of a TBV (Pfs230) with an Approved Anti-Infection Malaria Vaccine (R21)
 
  Wai-Hong Tham, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Nanobodies Blocking Malaria Transmission
 
  Nirbhay Kumar, Milken Institute School of Public Health
Elimination of Malaria will Require Combination Vaccines Targeting Multiple Parasite Stages in Multiple Plasmodium Species
 
  Priscilla W Ngotho, University of Glasgow
Characterising the Dynamics of Malaria Parasite Sexual Stage Immunity
 
  Shehu S Awandu, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology
Short Talk: The Melanization Response in Anopheles Coluzii Mosquitoes Impacts Malaria Transmission and Infectivity in Natural Settings
 
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break Concourse
11:00–2:30 PM On Own for Lunch
3:00–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 2: Research presentations selected from abstract submissions Eldorado Ballroom
  * David S Schneider, Stanford University
Session Chair
 
  * Henk Schallig, Amsterdam University Medical Center
Session Chair
 
  Ana Rodrigues, Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine
Running for Protection: The Role of Cell Traversal in the Establishment of Sterile Immunity against Plasmodium
 
  Henrietta Esi Mensah-Brown, University of Ghana
Blocking Plasmodium Merozoite Invasion of Red Blood Cells: Molecular Docking Analysis of Small Molecule Inhibitors of the RH5-CyRPA-RIPR Complex
 
  Daniel Neafsey, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health
Insights into Malaria Immunity from Longitudinal Genotyping Studies that Reveal Complete Infection Dynamics
 
  Helena Nunes-Cabaço, Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine
Age is a Major Determinant of the Efficacy of Whole-sporozoite Malaria Vaccination in MIce
 
  Alina Batzilla, EMBL Barcelona
The Contribution of Leukocytes to Cerebral Malaria Vascular Pathogenesis in a 3D Blood-Brain Barrier Model
 
  Ann M Moormann, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
A Systems Serology Approach to Distinguish Divergent Exposures to Plasmodium Falciparum for Children Living in Malaria Endemic Regions
 
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Concourse
5:00–6:45 PM Systems Immunology Applied to Malaria Eldorado Ballroom
  * Prasanna Jagannathan, Stanford University School of Medicine
Session Chair
 
  Maria Yazdanbakhsh, Leiden University Medical Center
Remote Presentation: Systems Immunology and Innate Immunity to Malaria
 
  Tuan M Tran, Indiana University School of Medicine
Systems Immunology and RNAseq Integration Methods
 
  Silvia Portugal, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology
Asymptomatic Persistence of Malaria Parasites
 
  Katarina DiLillo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Short Talk: Differential Network Analysis of Pediatric Immune Responses to Malaria Vaccination
 
6:45–7:00 PM Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions (Organizers) Eldorado Ballroom
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Lite Bites Anasazi Ballroom
8:00–9:00 PM Entertainment Eldorado Ballroom
8:00–9:00 PM Cash Bar Anasazi Ballroom
Thursday, April 3, 2025
12:00–11:59 PM Departure