Scientists from the University of Dundee have helped decode the malaria genome as part of international efforts to control this disease through the development of better drugs, vaccines and diagnostics.
The malaria parasite genome sequencing project was coordinated by The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hixton, Cambridge and has taken the international consortium 6 years to complete, at a cost of $15 million dollars.
As part of the international consortium working on the malaria parasite genome published in Nature last week, colleagues from the School of Life Sciences, Professor Alan Fairlamb and Dr David Martin, played a pivotal role in the project analysing the genetic information and constructing metabolic pathways for the discovery of new drug targets.
Professor Fairlamb said "The breaking of this code is an extremely exciting development as we now have the complete genomes for the malaria parasite and the mosquito carrier to assist efforts in controlling this terrible disease.
The malaria genome encodes about 5,000 proteins, of which scientists know the function of only a fraction. Solving the functional roles of these unknowns will be a considerable challenge, especially as they may contain significant candidates for future drug and vaccine development. The beauty of being able to construct metabolic pathways in the malaria parasite is that we can apply this information immediately in the discovery of new drugs against malaria".
Professor Fairlamb is Chairman of the World Health Organisation Drug Discovery Research Committee; responsible for funding new drug leads for malaria and other parasites, and is Head of the Division of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Microbiology in the Wellcome Trust Biocentre. The focus of the Division is the study of the structure and function of enzymes of parasites that cause tropical diseases and to identify drug targets. This work is done in collaboration with colleagues in the newly opened Post-Genomics and Molecular Interactions Centre.
A recent breakthrough in the search for a cure for malaria came from Professor Bill Hunter's laboratory, also in the Division, where it was discovered that tuberculosis and malaria share a common enzyme with the E.coli bacterium. The discovery raises hopes for a cheap common cure for all three diseases.
The study of tropical diseases will be a major focus in the new state-of-the-art £15m research facility to be built adjacent to the Wellcome Trust Biocentre in 2003 for which a fundraising campaign was launched in August to raise the £3.5 million still required.
Contact Professor Alan Fairlamb 01382 345155
Dr David Martin 01382 348704
By Jenny Marra, Press Officer 01382 344910 j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk