Inari Kursula

Inari Kursula is a Professor at the Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Norway, with strong affiliations to the Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the University of Oulu, Finland. Her research focuses on the structural and molecular mechanisms of malaria parasite motility and host cell invasion, particularly through the study of the glideosome and actin-myosin motor complexes.

She earned her PhD in structural biology from the University of Oulu in 2003 and conducted postdoctoral research at EMBL Hamburg and the Karolinska Institute. She established her independent research group in Oulu in 2008 and held various roles including Academy of Finland Research Fellow and a 20% professorship at the University of Bergen prior to her current full-time position. Her work combines structural biology, biochemistry, and biophysics to unravel the unique features of apicomplexan motility.

Her research interests include structural biology, malaria parasite motility, actin-myosin dynamics, glideosome function, and drug discovery. She has made significant contributions to understanding the atomic-level mechanisms of parasite actin polymerization, myosin function, and actin-binding proteins. Her group has determined high-resolution structures of key components and is working toward reconstructing the entire glideosome complex.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong trend in structural and functional characterization of malaria parasite proteins, particularly actin isoforms, myosin motors, and associated regulatory proteins. Her work increasingly integrates hybrid structural methods and biophysical assays to understand the mechanics of gliding motility and identify potential therapeutic targets.

She actively supervises several PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, including Maiken Fridal Trones, Jude Santhampillai, Devaki Lasiwa, Henni Piirainen, Isa Pires, and Ezeogo Obaji. Her research is supported by grants from the Research Council of Norway (project references 245828, 245922, 294594). She teaches Methods in Biomedical Research (BMED320) and leads a collaborative international research group.

Her laboratory operates across two institutions—University of Bergen and University of Oulu—fostering a dynamic, interdisciplinary environment focused on combating malaria through structural insights.