Merryn Fraser

Merryn is a parasitologist working at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. She works primarily with the Plasmodium parasite, which causes malaria. Her PhD thesis, submitted under a cotutelle agreement to ANU and Humboldt University Berlin, focuses on parasite lipid metabolism, investigating how to fight malaria with fat! Merryn is interested in how parasites affect a host, and how the host affects parasites. She uses molecular and cell biology to study membranes in malaria, building a dynamic picture of the movement of molecules. Her work has identified areas of lipid metabolism that could be exploited for drug intervention strategies to reduce the burden of malaria.