Apicomplexan parasites, which include the agents of malaria, cryptosporidiosis, and toxoplasmosis, have a devastating impact on human health and well-being around the globe. Infections with Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent human malaria parasite, alone are responsible for greater than 400,000 deaths each year.
In addition to these strong public health motivations, these parasites are absolutely fascinating organisms. As fellow eukaryotes, many facets of their basic biology closely resembles ours, while other aspects are often strikingly alien with byzantine life cycles that stretch across multiple host species and involve numerous, morphologically-distinct developmental stages, each targeting specific host cell types.
