Our work studies the effect of Plasmodium infection on the mammalian host, and in particular the haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). These cells maintains the turnover of billions of blood cells every day throughout our life, and respond to infection by generating extra progeny, especially immune cells that will then go on to fight the infection. Our work has deep implications for every person developing malaria, with ongoing research currently addressing questions such as how do the HSCs sense the infection, will they still function as well despite their extra proliferation, and will they have a memory of this ordeal?