Working with industrial partners to implement new technologies for point-of-care diagnostics is the first approach to tackling infections such as malaria, HPV and Ebola. Improving and simplifying treatments of important diseases is another way to impact on morbidity of major pathogens such as malaria, where work over several decades has delivered advances in the use of artesunate (different routes of administration, and single daily dose for severe disease).
Part of the challenge with any treatment for infections is the emergence of drug resistance. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie clinically important drug resistance in malaria has been another focus of laboratory studies. These have been linked to detailed molecular and functional studies in parasites to identify and validate new drug targets for pathogens.
During the study of artemisinins for treating malaria, it became obvious that they may also be useful for cancers. The laboratory has looked in to the mechanisms of anticancer effects of artemisinins, after studying the mechanisms of their antimalarial action. Artemisinins are now being trialed in multi-centre, multi-national ways to improve outcomes from colorectal cancer. Soon they will be applied to other cancers where treatment options are limited, unaffordable or poorly tolerated.
Publications
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Widening the options for recurrent malaria. Lancet. 2018. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30630-5
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Safety and immunogenicity of rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP Ebola vaccine in adults and children in Lambaréné, Gabon: A phase I randomised trial (2017). PLoS Medicine Oct 6;14(10):e1002402. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002402. eCollection 2017 Oct
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Intramuscular Artesunate for Severe Malaria in African Children: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial. PLoS Med. 2016. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001938