Word: plasmodium
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Plasmodium, a protozoan responsible for malaria, flourishes in the human body, growing inside red blood cells until the cells burst. And without enough red cells to carry oxygen through the body, humans become anemic and can die from renal failure or convulsions. Bacteria, which are considerably smaller than protozoans, generally do their damage indirectly, producing toxins that stimulate the body to mount an immune response. Ideally the immune cells kill the bacteria. But if the bacteria get out of control, their poisons can either kill cells or generate a huge immune reaction that is itself toxic...
Using a genetic technique known as transfection, a group of researchers at the School of Public Health were able to induce Plasmodium, the malaria parasite, to produce luciferase, the enzyme used by fireflies to emit light...
...essence, the team had created a luminous Plasmodium, one which should shed some light on the genetic processes which eventually lead to human infection by malaria and disease...