24 November 2006

Major boost for tropical disease research at Dundee

Research into some of the world’s most neglected tropical diseases has received a major boost with the award of almost £4 million in funding from the Wellcome Trust to a scientist at the University of Dundee.

Professor Alan Fairlamb, Wellcome Principal Research Fellow at the University of Dundee’s College of Life Sciences, has been awarded £3.9 million from the Wellcome Trust to extend his research into neglected diseases, including sleeping sickness, Chagas’ disease and leishmaniasis.

There are over 140,000 reported deaths from these diseases each year, but it is generally agreed that this is an underestimate because of the lack of medical reporting in many under-developed countries.

A world authority on tropical diseases, Professor Fairlamb has made key discoveries on drug targets in parasites which are responsible for the spread of these diseases. He first discovered the vital antioxidant trypanothione in 1985, and has since identified it as one of the targets for several drugs currently used to treat sleeping sickness in sub-Saharan Africa, and to treat Chagas' disease, which affects millions of people in Brazil.

In 2004 he discovered that drugs used to treat Leishmaniasis also attack the antioxidant functions of trypanothione. From this Professor Fairlamb hopes to find a better and safer drug that will cure all three tropical diseases.

Current drug treatments for sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and Chagas’ Disease are poor. They are themselves often toxic and in some there are significant problems with drug resistance.

The award from The Wellcome Trust provides funding for seven research scientists and a 10-year Research Fellowship for Professor Fairlamb. It follows an £8.1 million award from the Trust to the University last year to establish the Drug Discovery Unit and associated research within the Sir James Black Centre.

Professor Fairlamb said "This award will be of enormous value in underpinning the activities of the Drug Discovery Unit at Dundee and will allow me to provide novel targets for drug discovery against these preventable diseases."

Professor Fairlamb is head of the University’s Division of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Microbiology and has served as an advisor on numerous expert committees in the tropical parasitic disease area, including the World Health Organisation, the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative.

In June 2006 Professor Fairlamb was awarded a CBE by the Queen for his services to medical science.

Notes to Editors

Dundee boasts one of the leading research divisions in Europe studying African sleeping sickness, Chagas' disease, Leishmaniasis and malaria, who are based in the Division of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Microbiology in the Wellcome Trust Biocentre and Sir James Black Centre. This research has been strengthened with the establishment of the Drug Discovery Unit which was opened in January 2006 by Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer. The aim of the Unit is to translate basic research discoveries into candidate drugs ready for clinical trials. The diseases, which include African sleeping sickness, Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis, are among the most neglected in the world. Despite the fact they affect millions of the world's poorest people, these diseases have attracted little or no interest from pharmaceutical companies.

The Wellcome Trust is the most diverse biomedical research charity in the world, spending about £450 million every year both in the UK and internationally to support and promote research that will improve the health of humans and animals. The Trust was established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome, and is funded from a private endowment, which is managed with long-term stability and growth in mind. http://www.wellcome.ac.uk

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