UF Researcher Receives $1.29 Million Grant to Support Malaria Research
A $1.29 million grant from the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund will support EPI malaria investigator Rhoel Dinglasan’s work to develop a novel saliva-based malaria diagnostic test that catches infections even when victims don’t show symptoms.
Dinglasan, an associate professor of infectious diseases with UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute, began his career by researching a new type of malaria vaccine and investigating target compounds for drug discovery. But after witnessing the struggles of malaria-affected families in Cameroon while conducting fieldwork between 2011 and 2014, his path veered into improving disease detection.
“I want to make a malaria test that doctor, mom or the local school teacher can use,” Dinglasan says. “Without drawing blood, pricking fingers, needing microscopes, or trekking to the community health clinic that’s ten or fifteen miles away and might lack water.”