Editorial Biology of the Malaria Parasite – editorial on the special issue for the 10th BioMalPar conference Freddy Frischknecht, 1 Maria Mota, 2 Artur Scherf 3 and Andy Waters 4 1 Parasitology, Department of Infectious Diseases, Heidelberg University Medical School, Heidelberg, Germany. 2 Malaria Unit, Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal. 3 Unité de Biologie des Interactions Hôte-Parasite, Département de Parasitologie et Mycologie, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. 4 Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom. Considering the rapid advancement of the biomedical sciences, the molecular and cellular biology of most host–parasite interactions remains still largely enigmatic. Some of the best understood parasites are those that cause malaria, one of the leading causes of death from infectious diseases throughout human history and still today. This special issue on malaria testifies how much progress has been made, but also shows how much more remains to be discovered. Not only do we lack a proven rationale for a cheap vaccine, but there are still many open questions about the most basic processes of malaria parasite biology and how the parasite interacts with its hosts. This leaves plenty of scope for new and fundamental discoveries that would gain immensely from attracting scientists from other fields and funding agen- cies alike. This issue celebrates the international effort that aims to understand the molecular and cellular biology of the malaria parasite. This effort has benefited tremendously from two consecutive European Union research net- works, BioMalPar and EVIMalaR that have spanned the last decade of research (Waters, 2013). Within these networks over 80 laboratories from Europe, Africa, India and Australia joint together to achieve more and faster progress than could have been done by individual efforts. Research focused on different areas such as molecular cell biology, immunology, systems and vector biology. The created networks have fostered a spirit of collaboration and have led to several dozens of young researchers conducting their doctoral and postdoctoral studies on malaria. Some of the new findings that emerged from this research are vigorously discussed at conferences such as the BioMalPar conference, which is being held for the 10th time this year at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. We are convinced that both, the international collabora- tive effort and the BioMalPar conference series will con- tinue in the future. This special issue is thus also a tribute to the many researchers that have not only worked hard and openly exchanged their ideas and findings on sometimes very competitive issues but also to those that provided for the future by inspiring and training the next generation of researchers. Within these pages you will find a showcase of international work with contributions from colleagues in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia but an ominous absence of contributions from Africa, where malaria causes most deaths. This single fact highlights the ongoing and urgent need for stronger research capacity building right where it is most needed. There are myriad interactions between the malaria para- site and its different host cells and tissues and no special issue would be able to even attempt to portrait them all. Nevertheless, the selection of review and primary research presented here give a good overview of the divergence of research topics in malaria research and hence the scope of the problem. This research has always benefited from the use of model organisms from the dis- covery of parasite transmission by Ronald Ross using birds and the discovery of the liver stages using monkeys as well as the use of mice for early vaccine studies in the late 1960s. Therefore, a timely review examines the success and promise of humanized rodent models for the study of malaria infection (Kaushansky et al.). Similar to animal models the cultivation of a parasite in cell culture is necessary to advance our understanding of its molecular biology. This is highlighted by another review focusing on how Plasmodium knowlesi, a parasite mainly infecting Cellular Microbiology (2014) 16(5), 599–601 doi:10.1111/cmi.12295 © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd cellular microbiology