This year, Australia hosted its first major international conference on mal
aria - Molecular Approaches to Malaria in Lorne, Victoria, 2-5 February 200
0 (MAM2000). The worldwide research effort toward a better understanding of
the pathogenesis and control of malaria in the post-genomic era was discus
sed and debated by over 250 researchers from 18 countries during four days
packed with molecular biology, cell biology, genomics, vaccines and pathoge
nic mechanisms. This special malaria edition of Parasitology Today is an at
tempt to capture and summarize the quality and breadth of work presented at
the conference and place this in the context of the current global malaria
research effort; eight of the nine Reviews in this issue have been written
by session chairs or presenters at MAM2000.