WiM sketches - Women in Malaria

The WiM Sketches are a collection of drawings of women malaria scientists and are made by Sophia Raine C. Hernandez and Thorey K. Jonsdottir. The series was initiated to increase the visability of women in science and their research through art. Anyone can nominate for this series on X by messaging the WiM account (@womeninmalaria).

Rose Gana Fomban Leke, Francine Ntoumi and Damaris Matoke-Muhia

The image depicts portraits of Professor Rose Gana Fomban Leke, Professor Francine Ntoumi and Dr Damaris Matoke-Muhia. Behind them is an illustration of a road with scenes depicting efforts towards malaria elimination such as fumigation, transmission control, community education and drug and vaccine development.

Drawing was made for World Malaria Day 2024

Emma McHugh

The drawing features Dr Emma McHugh who works on RNA decay using CRISPR mutagenesis methods and alternative RNA splicing in Plasmodium falciparum at Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne.

Detailed image description:

The image shows an illustration of Dr Emma McHugh, wearing a lab coat on the right side holding a culture flask and left side of her is wearing a wetsuit holding a surfboard. She is surrounded by illustrations of her research on RNA decay using CRISPR mutagenesis methods and alternative RNA splicing in Plasmodium falciparum. Also shown on the image is a drawing of a nanopore mini-ion sequencer.

Sumi Biswas, Flaminia Catteruccia and Victoria Ingham

The drawing features three mosquito/transmission malaria researchers, Associate Professor Sumi Biswas at the Jenner Institute, Professor Flaminia Catteruccia at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Group Leader Victoria Ingham at Heideilberg University Hospital.

The sketch was made for World Mosquito Day, 2023

Xuxa Gara-Mundere

The drawing features Xuxa Gara-Mundere, an Insectary manager and Laboratory Scientist for the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) ZENTO project at Africa University. Read more about her work here.

Detailed image description:

The drawing shows Insectary manager and Laboratory Scientist, Xuxa Gara-Mundere in a lab coat, where she is surrounded by drawings describing her work, such as a map of Zimbabwe and the structure of the drug chloroquine to represent studies on the effect of drug removal to the abundance of mutant parasites. In the map, different locations are also pinpointed, along with mosquito species abundance to represent her studies on mosquito surveillance. Drawings of mosquito colony cages, a stereo microscope, DNA, an ELISA plate and forceps are also included to further represent her work as the insectary manager and lab scientist.

Amy Bei

The drawing features Dr Amy Bei, a PI based at Yale School of Public Health researching genetic diversity in Plasmodium and its effects on malaria vaccine efficacy. Website: bei-lab.com

Detailed image description:

The drawing shows Dr Amy Bei wearing a lab coat with illustrations that represent her research on genetic diversity in Plasmodium and how this affects red blood cell invasion, immune responses and transmission in mosquitoes. A map of Senegal and a sequence diversity map is included to represent projects on population genetics and functional diversity in malaria endemic areas. A graphic of a syringe represents her studies contributing to malaria vaccine discovery.

Savannah N. Lewis

The drawing features Savannah N Lewis, a PhD candidate researching NK cells in relation to malaria infection at Stanford Biosciences in Jagannathan Lab.

Detailed image description:

An illustration of PhD student Savannah N Lewis wearing a lab coat and holding a pipette and tube with blood sample and media. Savannah is surrounded by graphics to represent her research on the immune response to malaria infection, such as a silhouette of a pregnant woman, Plasmodium infected red blood cells and the expansion of natural killer (NK) cells. Also shown is a graphic to represent Savannah’s research in populations in Rwanda.

Shazia Ruybal Pesántez

The drawing features Dr Shazia Ruybal Pesántez, a genomic epidemiologist at Imperial College London’s department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis and A/Prof at Instituto Microbiología USFQ.

Detailed image description:

A sketch of a malaria researcher Shazia Ruybal is shown in the middle of the image wearing a white lab coat. Around Shazia are drawings explaining her research as a genomic epidemiologist, where a world map is shown in the background in green and specific research conducted in highlighted countries such as population genetics, bioinformatics etc.

Maria M. Mota

The drawing features Prof. Maria M. Mota, a malaria group leader and the executive director of the Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Lisbon.

Detailed image description:

In the Center is a drawing of a woman scientist wearing an open white lab coat. Beneath the drawing is written: “MARIA MOTA” in black. Around the woman are malaria parasite cartoon drawings, highlighting key research themes of Maria Mota. This includes a plate with a knife and fork and the letters “nutrients”, highlighting the influence of nutrient availability and dietary habits on parasite infection. Then several red blood cells infected with ring stage parasites lead up to the liver, showing activation of interferon and the parasite influence on iron levels. This then connects to the parasite stage (sporozoites) that infect the liver cells.

WiM is hosted by the The University of Edinburgh, UK. The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336, VAT Registration Number GB 592 9507 00, and is acknowledged by the UK authorities as a “Recognised body” which has been granted degree awarding powers.