The mosquito-borne infectious disease malaria resulted in about 241 million clinical episodes and 627,000 deaths in 2020. In young children and pregnant women living in areas where the disease is endemic, a major cause of death is Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent, prevalent, and deadly human malaria parasite.

Scientists are keen to understand the mechanisms that regulate gene expression through the different stages of P. falciparum's lifecycle because such knowledge can help in the discovery of novel antimalarial therapies. One focus of their research is "lncRNAs," which are long noncoding ribonucleic acid molecules found in cells of eukaryotes -; organisms whose cells have a nucleus. Many noncoding RNAs have been linked to cancer and neurological disorders. LncRNAs are found also to regulate genome structure and gene expression.