Malaria research at the Bernhard Nocht Institute
The culprit
The anopheles mosquito transmits malaria. Through a simple bite, it transfers parasites into a host body. There are more than 200 strains of malaria around the world, five of which are deadly to humans.
The larvae
At the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, researchers are focusing on malaria. They breed mosquitos, using a sieve spoon to fish out larvae from water.
Mosquitoes in nets
The freshly-hatched mosquitoes buzz around in nets, and researchers remove them as needed. These mosquitoes only carry a rodent strain of malaria that is not dangerous to humans.
All sorted out
At the BNI labs, researchers analyze the various strains and forms of malaria including the “tropica” strain that poses the greatest danger to humans.
Water gun experiment
Malaria researcher Iris Bruchhaus separates the different stages of the malaria parasite Plasmodium from each other. She does so with the help of this VarioMac Separator and a pipette that looks like a water gun.
Infected blood
She takes some blood during the first sample…
Pathogens drawn in by magnets
... And injects the blood at the top of the machine. The magnetic iron column separates the early stages of the infected red blood cells from the final stages. As the pathogen multiplies in the body’s cells, it eats the cells but not the hemoglobin within it. Iron deposits build up in the cells and they’re then drawn in by magnets.
Dead pathogens
Red blood cells that are uninfected or where the pathogens are in the early stages of development flow through and land in a sterile fluid that kills them off. The rest of the tools are cleaned, a new bowl is put in place, the magnetic tension is released and the blood flows in.
Preparing the samples
The samples are coated with a so-called Giemsa stain so they can be viewed under the microscope. This is when the actual experiment begins.
Viewing the culprits
The pathogens can now be examined under the microscope.
Telltale dots
These are the violet circles located in red blood cells. In this case, the researchers can tell just how high the number of infected blood cells is. Depending on what they’re looking for, the researchers will further test the samples under an electron microscope.