I studied at the University of Georgia where I received my PhD in 1985 followed by two WHO-postdoctoral trainings at the New York University Medical Centre and the Institut Pasteur where I specialized in molecular biology of malaria. Next, I consolidated an interdisciplinary malaria research group at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1990, I did a sabattical year at the Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), University of Heidelberg. In 2007, I became an ICREA Research Professor and joined the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, and in 2015 co-joined the Institut d’Investigació Germans Trias i Pujol. Cornerstones of this research activity are the discoveries of the largest multigene virulent family of human malaria parasites, of intrasplenic infections and of reticulocyte-derived exosomes from infections as intercellular communicators that can also be explored as vaccines and biomarkers.

My main research area is the biology of Plasmodium vivax, a neglected human malaria parasite responsible for millions of yearly clinical cases, and the study of extracellular vesicles (EVs), nanoparticles secreted by all cells, as intercellular comunicators, novel vaccines and biomarkers. We are presently looking for mechanistic insights of the role of reticulocyte-derived EVs from patients to estabish cryptic erythrocytic infections in the spleen and the bone marrow. In the absence of an in vitro culture system for P. vivax, we are implementing the usage of humanized mouse models and organs-on-chip, as well as generating single-cell and apatial transcriptional data from these organs. To use this information in novel control strategies, we are exploring the use of reticulocyte-derived exosomes as a novel vaccine against P. vivax as well as novel biomarkers of asymptomatic infections.