Malaria Research Focus
Multidrug resistance – Understanding the molecular mechanisms of resistance to anti-malaria drugs, with special focus on membrane transporters in the parasite (e.g., P-gh1, PfCRT and PfABCG). Moreover, given that knock-outs of P-gh1 or PfCRT are lethal demonstrates the importance of these transporters' normal functions for parasite survival.
In addition to the above membrane transporters, we are focusing on studying the role of PfABCG as mediator of drug resistance to current anti-malaria drugs or normal functions…. More
Novel Antimalarials - Current approaches to anti-malaria drug development often lead to the development of resistance. Moreover, the timelines between the introduction and use of new antimalarials to development of resistance, possibly due to the direct pressure on the parasite from previous antimalarials. We propose to focus instead on the host or erythrocyte's proteins to specifically target parasite-infected erythrocytes due to their heightened levels of oxidative stress relative to non-infected erythrocytes…. More