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Microbial cell 5(12), 525-544 (2018). doi:10.15698/mic2018.12.659, Published by Shared Science Publ., Graz

Considering the rapid advancement of the biomedicalsciences, the molecular and cellular biology of mosthost–parasite interactions remains still largely enigmatic.Some of the best understood parasites are those thatcause malaria, one of the leading causes of death frominfectious diseases throughout human history and stilltoday. This special issue on malaria testifies how muchprogress has been made, but also shows how muchmore remains to be discovered. Not only do we lack aproven rationale for a cheap vaccine, but there are stillmany open questions about the most basic processes ofmalaria parasite biology and how the parasite interactswith its hosts. This leaves plenty of scope for new andfundamental discoveries that would gain immensely fromattracting scientists from other fields and funding agen-cies alike.This issue celebrates the international effort that aimsto understand the molecular and cellular biology of themalaria parasite. This effort has benefited tremendouslyfrom two consecutive European Union research net-works, BioMalPar and EVIMalaR that have spanned thelast decade of research (Waters, 2013). Within thesenetworks over 80 laboratories from Europe, Africa, Indiaand Australia joint together to achieve more and fasterprogress than could have been done by individualefforts. Research focused on different areas such asmolecular cell biology, immunology, systems and vectorbiology. The created networks have fostered a spirit ofcollaboration and have led to several dozens of youngresearchers conducting their doctoral and postdoctoralstudies on malaria. Some of the new findings thatemerged from this research are vigorously discussed atconferences such as the BioMalPar conference, which isbeing held for the 10th time this year at the EuropeanMolecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany.We are convinced that both, the international collabora-tive effort and the BioMalPar conference series will con-tinue in the future.This special issue is thus also a tribute to the manyresearchers that have not only worked hard and openlyexchanged their ideas and findings on sometimes verycompetitive issues but also to those that provided for thefuture by inspiring and training the next generation ofresearchers. Within these pages you will find a showcaseof international work with contributions from colleagues inNorthAmerica, Europe,Asia andAustralia but an ominousabsence of contributions from Africa, where malariacauses most deaths. This single fact highlights theongoing and urgent need for stronger research capacitybuilding right where it is most needed.Therearemyriadinteractionsbetweenthemalariapara-site and its different host cells and tissues and no specialissue would be able to even attempt to portrait them all.Nevertheless, the selection of review and primaryresearch presented here give a good overview of thedivergence of research topics in malaria research andhence the scope of the problem.This research has alwaysbenefited from the use of model organisms from the dis-covery of parasite transmission by Ronald Ross usingbirds and the discovery of the liver stages using monkeysas well as the use of mice for early vaccine studies inthe late 1960s. Therefore, a timely review examines thesuccess and promise of humanized rodent models for thestudy of malaria infection (Kaushansky