Blue skies or stormy weather: what lies ahead for malaria research?

During the past ten years, our understanding of many aspects of the biology of malaria parasites has increased dramatically. In particular, the complete genome sequences of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium yoelii, the availability of transcriptome and proteome profiles, and the establishment of transfection techniques for asexual-stage malaria parasites all represent major achievements from the past decade. Now that we are truly in the post-genomic phase of biological enquiry, this article highlights some of the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead, and speculates on what we should expect to achieve in the future.