1. Most malaria researchers focus on the disease-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the most prevalent species of Plasmodium in Africa. But elsewhere, another parasite dominates: Plasmodium vivax. Efforts to address malaria caused by this species lag behind those of P. falciparum, including the development of effective vaccines. Arturo Reyes-Sandoval, a vaccinologist at the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City and the University of Oxford, UK, spoke to Nature about why a P. vivax malaria vaccine should be on researchers’ most wanted list, and how close he and his colleagues are to developing one.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02053-2

2. Numerous studies over more than two decades have demonstrated a robust relationship between climate and the dynamics of human diseases, such as cholera, malaria and dengue. Changes in climate, including both long-term warming trends and short-term climate variability, might affect patterns of disease. Xavier Rodó, a computational ecologist and climate dynamics specialist at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies in Spain, spoke to Nature about how climate modelling could be used to help prepare for future disease outbreaks — and the obstacles he has faced in implementing such systems.

5. Research round-up: Precision oncology. Targeted treatments for children, a fresh approach to protein analysis and other highlights from clinical trials and laboratory studies.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02674-x