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 twitter by messaging the WiM account (@womeninmalaria).

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.

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