WEHI Postgraduate Seminar hosted by the Scientific Education Committee

Associate Professor Justin Boddey

Laboratory Head – Infection and Global Health division, WEHI

Antimalarial plasmepsin inhibitors: from discovery to translation
 

Davis Auditorium

Join via TEAMS

Including Q&A session

A/Prof Boddey is a Laboratory Head at WEHI studying malaria mosquito transmission and liver stage infection. After completing a PhD in bacterial pathogenesis at Griffith University, he joined WEHI as a postdoctoral fellow studying virulence of malaria blood-stage parasites with Prof Alan Cowman. This work identified an aspartyl protease named plasmepsin V as a novel drug target, whose proteolytic activity directs the export of several hundred effector proteins from the parasite into the host erythrocyte for parasite survival. A/Prof Boddey was appointed Laboratory Head at WEHI in 2012 where his group established mosquito transmission and liver stages of the malaria lifecycle in the Institute’s brand-new Insectary. The laboratory also developed inhibitors of plasmepsin V as potential antimalarial agents, spearheaded by Dr Brad Sleebs. This research led to an academic-industry collaboration between several WEHI laboratories, Merck Sharpe & Dohme USA, and the Wellcome Trust to develop plasmepsin inhibitors as new antimalarial agents.

In this seminar I will describe key discoveries and breakthroughs led by different team members that shaped the antimalarial drug development program and touch on future translational endeavours. There will be a Q&A panel session with team members whom are devoted to the clinical translation of plasmepsin inhibitors into malaria endemic communities to help combat this disease.

All welcome!