Dr Janet Storm

Biography

Janet Storm is a Senior Research Associate in the Centre for Snakebite Research and Interventions. She worked as research technician in The Netherlands before moving to the UK to work at the University of Oxford, where she also completed her part-time PhD studying the transporter P-glycoprotein. Her first postdoctoral position was at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology at the University of Glasgow, investigating the metabolism of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite causing malaria. She joined LSTM in 2012 to study the role of parasite-host interactions in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria and was based at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme until late 2015. In 2022 she joined CSRI, researching the pathology of snakebite envenoming.

Research interests

Janet’s current research focuses on local and systemic pathology in snakebite envenoming. She investigates the contribution of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETosis) on venom-induced tissue destruction around the bite site and how venom toxins affect vascular endothelium, leading to haemorrhages. By identifying molecular mechanisms, new treatments for snakebite can be developed.

Selected research publications

Exploiting venom toxins in paratransgenesis to prevent mosquito-borne disease – Journal: Parasites and Vectors – Published: 29th January 2025

Transcriptional responses of brain endothelium to Plasmodium falciparum patient-derived isolates in vitro – Journal: Microbiology spectrum – Published: 12th June 2024

Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocyte co-culture with the monocyte cell line THP-1 does not trigger production of soluble factors reducing brain microvascular barrier function – Journal: PLoS ONE – Published: 4th May 2023

Parasite histones are toxic to brain endothelium and link blood barrier breakdown and thrombosis in cerebral malaria – Journal: Blood Advances – Published: 14th July 2020

Cerebral malaria is associated with differential cytoadherence to brain endothelial cells. – Journal: EMBO Molecular Medicine – Published: 3rd January 2019

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