Teun Bousema
In Interplay
Science
Synopsis
Interplay
In the countryside in northern Uganda, armed with petri dishes, cardboard cups and a vacuum cleaner, internationally renowned malaria researcher Teun Bousema, along with PhD student Daniel Ayo and his team, seeks to unravel the mysterious life cycle of the malaria parasite. But the parasite is elusive, constantly mutating, which increases the threat of drug resistance. Is this mutated parasite more infectious to mosquitoes? Interplay depicts the daily reality of the tireless scientific battle against this formidable and multifaceted opponent.
The malaria mosquito is born ‘clean’. Only after an infected blood meal and taking on various forms does the malaria parasite end up in the mosquito’s saliva, ready to claim a new human victim when the mosquito next bites. ‘It’s such a clever beast,’ says Bousema.
In coproduction with: Docmakers
Credits
- Character
- Teun Bousema
- Director
- Sanne Rovers
- Country
- Uganda / The Netherlands
- Duration
- 20 min
- Year
- 2025
TEUN BOUSEMA OPERATES AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE BATTLE AGAINST MALARIA BY RESEARCHING HUMAN-TO-MOSQUITO INFECTIONS.
Teun Bousema
Teun Bousema (1977) has dedicated his career to eradicating malaria, a disease which still claims more than 600,000 lives per year. Whereas most research focuses on how mosquitoes infect humans, Bousema takes the opposite approach and instead looks at how humans infect mosquitoes. He also explores ways to harness the human immune system to prevent further spread of the disease.
After earning his PhD at Radboud University Nijmegen, Bousema spent two years helping establish the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute in Tanzania. He has been affiliated with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine since 2008 and has had his own research group at Radboud university medical center since 2012. He conducts fieldwork in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, among other countries.
Acclaims
• Professor Epidemiology of Tropical Infectious Diseases at Radboud university medical center Nijmegen; Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
• Winner of various awards and grants including the Eijkman Medaille (2017), the Ammodo Science Award (2019), the NWO Vidi (2016) and Vici (2023) grants, and the ERC-Consolidator Grant (2022)
Director
Sanne Rovers
Sanne Rovers (1981) is a Dutch documentary/multimedia director and a member of the collective Docmakers. Sanne’s documentaries show the boundless drive of the people she films, with a cinematic approach and room for light-heartedness. Her themes are art, youth and nature. Her films have been screened at international festivals such as IDFA, Prix de Jeunesse and Prix Europe as well as local impact screenings. Homo Ludens (2018) won the audience award at the Go Short International Film Festival.