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Controlled Human Malaria Infection (CHMI) Platform

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The QIMR Berghofer Clinical Malaria Laboratory offers customised contract R&D services based on a well-established Controlled Human Malaria Infection (CHMI) model. CHMI is widely considered a gold-standard model for early clinical evaluation of antimalarial drugs and vaccines in a controlled human setting, providing critical human data to guide decision-making before advancing to large-scale field trials. These CHMI studies are conducted in collaboration with the University of Sunshine Coast Clinical Trials Site.

Our platform offers detailed characterisation of antimalarial pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) profiles, parasite clearance dynamics, transmission-blocking potential, host immune responses, and drug-drug interactions. The model is supported by a multidisciplinary team of clinical researchers and in-house laboratory capabilities, including molecular, immunological, and pharmacological assays.

We have extensive experience collaborating with large pharmaceutical companies, not-for-profit organisations, and academic partners on a broad range of malaria studies. These works have contributed to the clinical evaluation of both novel and existing antimalarials across multiple applications, as highlighted in the case studies below.

Services

  • PK/PD profiling of antimalarial drugs
    • Evaluation of drug activity against Plasmodium falciparum parasites
    • Assessment of chemoprophylactic activity of antimalarials
    • Evaluation of transmission-blocking activity
    • Characterisation of host inflammatory and immune responses to malaria infection
    • Investigation of drug-drug interactions (PK/PD drug interaction model)
    • Customised study design, execution, and reporting

    Assay Capabilities

    • Quantitative PCR for parasite detection and quantification (e.g. 18S rRNA, pfs25, pfMGET, SBP-1) 
    • Ex vivo parasite growth inhibition and viability assays
    • Mosquito feeding assays to evaluate transmission-blocking activity
    • Multiplex cytokine and chemokine immunoassays 
    • Flow cytometry immunophenotyping
    • ELISA and functional assays for antibody characterisation
    • Clinical pharmacokinetic sample analysis and advanced PK/PD modelling
    • Biomarker assessment including inflammatory mediators and host response markers

    Case Studies

    Human malaria challenge studies for characterising the PK/PD profiles of antimalarials, including:

    1. CHMI studies assessing transmission-blocking activity of antimalarials (Clin Infect Dis 2023)
    2. CHMI studies evaluating pharmacological interaction of the antimalarial combination (BMC Med 2024)
    3. CHMI studies measuring antimalarial effects on human parasite viability (Lancet Infect Dis 2022)
    4. CHMI studies investigating host immune and pathophysiological responses to infection (EBio Med 2024, PLoS Med 2021, Infect Immun 2020) CHMI studies evaluating adjunctive treatments (MedRxiV 2025)