Professor Alan Cowman AC, a laboratory head in the Infection and Global Health division, is a globally renowned researcher specialising in malaria and its treatment.

Prof Cowman has been working in malaria research for over three decades and now leads an interdisciplinary team that is collaborating with industry partners to tackle the disease with next-generation drugs and vaccines.

What critical gap will the Synergy Grant help address and why is it important in today’s global landscape?

Malaria is a significant international health threat transmitted by infected mosquitoes. In 2023, the parasitic disease accounted for approximately 263 million cases and 597,000 deaths.

My research is centred on understanding Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax, the most dangerous malaria parasites that cause infections and death.

While two vaccines have been approved for P. falciparum there is currently no vaccine for P. vivax. Both existing vaccines target a protein found in the early stage of the parasite’s life, but they don’t stop the parasite once it leaves the liver. That means even one parasite getting through can still cause disease.

Our team is addressing the urgent need for malaria vaccines that target and work against multiple stages of the parasite lifecycle and P. vivax. We will look at a new type of protein to see if it can be used to make antibodies that stop infection, reduce the severity of the disease in the blood and block transmission back to the mosquito.

What contributions do you anticipate your research will make to science and society?

We aim to develop a multi-stage vaccine that can target and cure multiple species of malaria and offer more protection than the current vaccines. Our hope is that the new vaccine could prevent infection at the liver stage, reduce severity in the blood stage and stop transmission to mosquitoes.

A new vaccine could protect millions of people and contribute to eradicating malaria.

We expect our research will show how malaria parasites invade human and mosquito cells, how antibodies are able to block that process and provide a blueprint for designing more effective vaccines in the future.

What expertise does your team contribute and what are your scientific goals?

We are part of the Multi-Stage Malaria Vaccine and Antibody Consortium, formed by the Gates Foundation, which prioritises the development of multi-stage vaccines.

Through this consortium our team is working in a world-leading vaccine innovation ecosystem, giving us access to vaccine formulations, pre-clinical models and expert guidance along the clinical development pipeline.

Our team focuses on three key goals to help combat malaria.

First, we aim to understand the role of a protein called PTRAMP-CSS during the mosquito and liver stages of the malaria parasite’s life cycle. Second, we plan to develop human antibodies that target PTRAMP-CSS and identify which parts of the protein help stop the parasite and which do not.

Finally, we will use this knowledge to design new vaccine components that can prevent both malaria and its spread.

‘Creating a multi-stage multi-species malaria vaccine to treat malaria’ is led by WEHI in partnership with the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and Monash University.

Professor Grant Dewson is a laboratory head in the Ubiquitin Signalling division and head of the Parkinson’s Disease Research Centre at WEHI.

His research has led to new understandings in the field of programmed cell death, called apoptosis, and how damage to cellular power plants called mitochondria is central to this process. His work focuses on understanding how defects in mitochondria cause Parkinson’s disease and how we might target mitochondria to slow or stop disease progression.

What problem will your Synergy Grant help solve and what unique perspectives will your team bring?

Parkinson’s is a complex disease caused by combinations of genetic and environmental factors.

The devastating movement symptoms and some non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s are due to the death of specific types of neurons in the brain. How and why these neurons die in Parkinson’s is unclear, although defects in mitochondrial integrity and function are strongly implicated.

We know that some of the genetic forms of the disease, which constitute around 10–15% of Parkinson’s cases, are caused by defects in specific proteins involved in how mitochondria are regulated. But we also know that defective mitochondria may contribute to the more common non-genetic forms of Parkinson’s.

By combining fundamental research using cutting edge technologies with clinical expertise from movement disorder specialists, we want to generate new disease models to get a complete picture of the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson’s.

Who will you be working with over the next five years and what expertise will they bring?

I am especially proud that this project has, at its core, people living with Parkinson’s from WEHI’s Consumer Program and that it brings together a team of talented multi-disciplinary researchers and clinicians to drive this much-needed research.

These researchers are among some of the leaders in the fields of neuronal cell biology, genetics, drug discovery and imaging from WEHI and Monash University, working alongside leading movement disorder clinicians from Neuroscience Research Australia and the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

What do you hope will be the impact of your work?

Parkinson’s is the world’s fastest growing neurodegenerative condition. It is estimated to affect over 200,000 Australians and that number is predicted to increase.

From working closely with people with Parkinson’s, you quickly realise how devastating Parkinson’s can be to those diagnosed and their families.

Unfortunately, there are no drugs that slow or stop Parkinson’s, or clinical diagnostic tests. Current treatments alleviate the symptoms but do not impact the underlying neurodegeneration.

Ultimately, our goal is to exploit the insight from our research to identify and test ways to protect mitochondria as the basis for new drugs to stop the progression of Parkinson’s.

In addition, we aim to understand if defects in mitochondria can be a diagnostic guide that might be used in the clinic to help identify people with the disease earlier so they can get the help they need sooner.

‘Targeting Neuronal Vulnerabilities to Treat Parkinson’s’ is led by WEHI in partnership with Melbourne Health, Monash University and Neuroscience Research Australia.

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Header image L-R: Professor Alan Cowman AC and Professor Grant Dewson