Plasmodium berghei: The application of cultivation and purification techniques to molecular studies of malaria parasites

Species of malaria parasites that infect rodents provide models for the study of the biology of malaria parasites that infect humans. In this article, Chris Janse and Andy Waters describe some of the recent advances in the cultivation and purification methodology of one of these species, Plasmodium berghei. The improvement of these techniques, and the increasing knowledge about the molecular biology of P. berghei enhance the value of this particular rodent model for the investigation of many aspects of the biology of Plasmodium.