Tropical Parasitology

Laboratory Head  

Dr Kathy Andrews

Summary

There is currently no licensed malaria vaccine and most of the drugs that are use to prevent and treat malaria are becoming less effective due to parasite drug resistance. The Tropical Parasitology Laboratory is addressing this major health issue by utilising a range of modern techniques in molecular, biochemical and cellular biology to study Plasmodium parasites and to identify new antimalarial drugs and drug targets.

Conditions researched

• Malaria

Current research

• Development of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors as new anti-malaria drugs
• Characterising the role of class I and II HDACs on malaria parasite transcription and parasite intra-erythrocytic development.
• Investigating the antimalarial activity of clinically used HIV aspartic protease inhibitors and their mode of action in malaria parasites.
• Investigating the activity of carbonic anhydrase inhibitors and their mode of action in malaria parasites
• In vitro and in vivo antimalarial pharmacodynamic studies on natural product derived compounds.
• Evaluation of novel anti-malarial agents
• Development of novel antimalarial target identification approaches

Staff

Laboratory Head: Dr Kathy Andrews

Research Fellow: Dr Tina Skinner-Adams

PhD students: Dulangi Sumanadasa, Gillian Fisher

Visiting PhD student: Vanida Choomuenwai

Honours student: Unomasa Maurihungirire

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following funding agencies:

• Australian Research Council (ARC)
• National Health and Medical Research Council
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Australian Infectious Disease Research Centre
• Queensland Government

Collaborators

Professor David Fairlie, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland

Professor Ron Quinn, Eskitis Institute, Griffith University

Associate Professor Zbynek Bozdech, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Professor Ric Price, Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin

Dr Rohan Davis, Eskitis Institute, Griffith University

Associate Professor Sally-Ann Poulsen, Eskitis Institute, Griffith University

Associate Professor Jonathan Harris, Queensland University of Technology

Dr Mike Duffy, Melbourne University