£1.5 million to battle parasitic diseases

The basic workings of the parasites which cause some of the developing world's most devastating diseases are the subject of a major new research project headed by Professor Bill Hunter in the College of Life Sciences.

Professor Hunter's team have been given a grant of £1.5 million from the Wellcome Trust towards research into the parasites which cause diseases such as African Sleeping Sickness and Chagas' Disease, which kill tens of thousands people every year and are a major factor in the medical, social and economic woes which bedevil so many developing countries.

The research team plan to unearth the vital clues which could lead to the development of new therapies for these diseases.

"We need to develop new knowledge about the parasites which cause diseases such as African Sleeping Sickness, diseases for which the current treatments are inadequate and improve our understanding of parasite biology - how they work, how they stay alive, what makes them tick essentially," said Professor Hunter.

"That leads to the second stage of the research, which is how do we stop them working and how we can develop the chemical tools which will do just that."

The team will also examine enzymes relevant to both malaria and tuberculosis to see if these can be exploited as drug targets.

The £1.5 million grant from the Wellcome Trust provides funding for five new staff and will also provide essential new equipment.

Professor Hunter's team utilise a technique called single crystal X-ray diffraction, through which they can build a detailed picture of the chemical structure of the enzymes contained within the parasites.

The team shine an X-ray beam on to crystals built from the enzymes and the atoms within the crystal scatter or `diffract' the X-rays. How the X-rays are scattered allows researchers to see where the atoms are placed and from this they can build a picture of the overall structure.

The enzymes being investigated make important small molecules, which protect the parasites from damage that results from normal metabolism, from the human immune system, and which build the protective fabric of the parasite cell surface.

The University is a major centre for research into tropical diseases, particularly African Sleeping Sickness, Chagas' Disease and leishmaniasis. The £13 million Drug Discovery Unit was described on its opening in January 2006 by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP as "a unit which gives hope to 30 million people in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and India, and hope therefore for thousands of people who die unnecessarily and avoidably every year."