Fighting Malaria With Light

Malaria is one of the deadliest infectious diseases worldwide, and threatens to worsen as the parasites that cause the illness are becoming resistant to current treatments. Paul Sigala, Ph.D., USTAR assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah, is developing an unusual strategy to combat malaria: killing the parasite with light. He explains why the parasite becomes vulnerable when it infects red blood cells in the body, how the approach works, and its potential for treating the disease.