New discovery overturns decades-old assumption about malaria

(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 10th Jul, 2026) WASHINGTON, 10th July, 2026 (WAM) – A new discovery overturns a decades-old assumption about how malaria parasites get into human red blood cells, researchers say.

The ''Cell Reports Medicine'' journal says malaria parasites are known to force their way into blood cells through a ring-shaped protein structure called the moving junction. But how the structure actually behaves remained unknown, because it survives ​for ​less than 60 seconds, dissipating before anyone can get a close look.

As reported iby Reuters, researchers were able to stall the ​single-cell Plasmodium falciparum parasites when they had partly broken into red blood cells. They lifted ‌the intact complex out of the cell, froze it, and examined it under powerful microscopes.

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They found that rather than simply attaching itself and acting as a passive doorway, as had been thought, the moving junction punctures and reshapes the host cell's membrane, acting as a wedge to make it easier for the parasite to force its way through.

"We've known for decades that this structure is essential for the parasite to get into a cell, but not how it actually works," study leader Chi-Min Ho of Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons said in a statement. "Pulling it directly out of the parasite intact let us finally ask that question directly."

After analyzing the structure, the researchers were able to design an experimental protein that blocks the invasion, a potential proof of concept for a new kind of antimalarial drug.