Matt Higgins

“Is the HIV pandemic over?”

My first lecture of my tenure at Gresham College is now available on line.

Want to know more:

youtube.com/watch?v=XaAd4r…

How do African trypanosomes regulate the complement system? Check out our new study from @BiochemCook, in which he identified new trypanosome receptor which binds to the core C3bBb convertase of the complement system and blocks its activity. Read about it: doi.org/10.64898/2026.…

Our latest study of the scavenger receptor CD163, led by @RichardZhou_. This follows our previous study of how CD163 uses its remarkable molecular architecture to bind haptoglobin-haemoglobin. We now show how its flexible arms allow haemoglobin binding and ligand promiscuity.

Introducing our new blood-stage malaria vaccine immunogen based on the essential invasion protein PfCyRPA. By understanding where on PfCyRPA the best antibodies bind, we used structure guided design to generate PfCyRPA-EM, which contains only the epitopes of the best antibodies.

Check out our latest study on the PfRIPR protein,
essential for the malaria parasite to get inside our blood cells. We show how antibodies block the function of PfRIPR by preventing its flexible hinges from bending, or by stopping it from compacting as part of its mechanism.