$4.8M to support early-stage drug discovery for malaria and tuberculosis
According to the World Health Organisation, malaria caused an estimated 249 million clinical cases in 2022 in 85 malaria endemic countries. Over 600,00 deaths occurred mainly in Africa in children under 5 years. Similarly, about 10 million people worldwide had clinical tuberculosis, with approximately 1.5 million deaths. The funding will support research that will identify lead molecules with the potential to be further developed into much needed new treatments for malaria and tuberculosis.
In this project we aim to develop lead compounds supported by the selection of high quality and essential drug targets and the use of information such as the 3-dimensional structures of these targets to design potential drugs. Essential targets are processes in these infectious agents that are indispensable for their survival. Our lead molecules will be optimised to block these processes and cure the infection.
We are really pleased to be able to receive support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on this important area. It is also great to be working alongside colleagues at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Research Institute to tackle these devastating diseases.
This project will be led by Dr Baragaña and her team in the DDU alongside DDU colleagues Professor Ian Gilbert, Professor Mike Bodkin and Dr Vincent Postis. External collaborators will be Professor Wes Van Voorhis from the University of Washington and Professor Peter Myler from the Seattle Children’s Research Institute.
The Drug Discovery Unit Apicomplexan Group led by Dr Beatriz Baragaña