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About

Our research is aimed at understanding how Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes the most severe form of malaria, infects humans and causes disease.

We focus on three major aspects of malaria:
– Understanding how the parasite invades human red blood cells. This will help us to develop a vaccine that prevents the parasite from infecting red blood cells.
– Studying how the parasite survives inside the red blood cell. This will help us to develop new treatments which will kill the parasite once it is present inside the human body.
– Combining our expertise in structural biology and chemistry, we develop novel antimalarial drugs in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies.

We are an interdisciplinary team, combining expertise in cell biology, imaging, structural studies and biological chemistry. We look for novel approaches and unconventional thinking to combat malaria.

Publications

Selected publications from Prof Alan Cowman AC

Awalt JK, Su W, Nguyen W, Loi K, Jarman KE, Penington JS, Ramesh S, Fairhurst KJ, Yeo T, Park H, Uhlemann A-C, Chandra Maity B, De N, Mukherjee P, Chakraborty A, Churchyard A, Famodimu MT, Delves MJ, Baum J, Mittal N, Winzeler EA, Papenfuss AT, Chowdury M, de Koning-Ward TF, Maier AG, van Dooren GG, Baud D, Brand S, Fidock DA, Jackson PF, Cowman AF, Dans MG, Sleebs BE. Exploration and characterization of the antimalarial activity of cyclopropyl carboxamides that target the mitochondrial protein, cytochrome b. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2024;280:10.1016/j.ejmech.2024.116921

Calic PPS, Ashton TD, Mansouri M, Loi K, Jarman KE, Qiu D, Lehane AM, Roy S, Rao GP, Maity B, Wittlin S, Crespo B, Gamo F-J, Deni I, Fidock DA, Chowdury M, de Koning-Ward TF, Cowman AF, Jackson PF, Baud D, Brand S, Laleu B, Sleebs BE. Optimization of pyrazolopyridine 4-carboxamides with potent antimalarial activity for which resistance is associated with the P. falciparum transporter ABCI3. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2024;276:10.1016/j.ejmech.2024.116677

Dans MG, Boulet C, Watson GM, Nguyen W, Dziekan JM, Evelyn C, Reaksudsan K, Mehra S, Razook Z, Geoghegan ND, Mlodzianoski MJ, Goodman CD, Ling DB, Jonsdottir TK, Tong J, Famodimu MT, Kristan M, Pollard H, Stewart LB, Brandner-Garrod L, Sutherland CJ, Delves MJ, McFadden GI, Barry AE, Crabb BS, de Koning-Ward TF, Rogers KL, Cowman AF, Tham W-H, Sleebs BE, Gilson PR. Author Correction: Aryl amino acetamides prevent Plasmodium falciparum ring development via targeting the lipid-transfer protein PfSTART1. Nature Communications. 2024;15(1):10.1038/s41467-024-52849-7

Ashton TD, Calic PPS, Dans MG, Ooi ZK, Zhou Q, Loi K, Jarman KE, Palandri J, Qiu D, Lehane AM, Maity B, De N, Famodimu MT, Delves MJ, Mao EY, Gancheva MR, Wilson DW, Chowdury M, de Koning‐Ward TF, Baud D, Brand S, Jackson PF, Cowman AF, Sleebs BE. Lactam Truncation Yields a Dihydroquinazolinone Scaffold with Potent Antimalarial Activity that Targets PfATP4. ChemMedChem. 2024;:10.1002/cmdc.202400549

Ashton TD, Calic PPS, Dans MG, Ooi ZK, Zhou Q, Palandri J, Loi K, Jarman KE, Qiu D, Lehane AM, Maity BC, De N, Giannangelo C, MacRaild CA, Creek DJ, Mao EY, Gancheva MR, Wilson DW, Chowdury M, de Koning-Ward TF, Famodimu MT, Delves MJ, Pollard H, Sutherland CJ, Baud D, Brand S, Jackson PF, Cowman AF, Sleebs BE. Property and Activity Refinement of Dihydroquinazolinone-3-carboxamides as Orally Efficacious Antimalarials that Target PfATP4. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2024;67(16):10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c01241

McConville R, Krol JMM, Steel RWJ, O’Neill MT, Davey BK, Hodder AN, Nebl T, Cowman AF, Kneteman N, Boddey JA. Flp/FRT-mediated disruption of ptex150 and exp2 in Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites inhibits liver-stage development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2024;121(28):10.1073/pnas.2403442121

Dans MG, Boulet C, Watson GM, Nguyen W, Dziekan JM, Evelyn C, Reaksudsan K, Mehra S, Razook Z, Geoghegan ND, Mlodzianoski MJ, Goodman CD, Ling DB, Jonsdottir TK, Tong J, Famodimu MT, Kristan M, Pollard H, Stewart LB, Brandner-Garrod L, Sutherland CJ, Delves MJ, McFadden GI, Barry AE, Crabb BS, de Koning-Ward TF, Rogers KL, Cowman AF, Tham W-H, Sleebs BE, Gilson PR. Aryl amino acetamides prevent Plasmodium falciparum ring development via targeting the lipid-transfer protein PfSTART1. Nature Communications. 2024;15(1):10.1038/s41467-024-49491-8

Nguyen W, Boulet C, Dans MG, Loi K, Jarman KE, Watson GM, Tham W-H, Fairhurst KJ, Yeo T, Fidock DA, Wittlin S, Chowdury M, de Koning-Ward TF, Chen G, Yan D, Charman SA, Baud D, Brand S, Jackson PF, Cowman AF, Gilson PR, Sleebs BE. Activity refinement of aryl amino acetamides that target the P. falciparum STAR-related lipid transfer 1 protein. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2024;270:10.1016/j.ejmech.2024.116354

Naung MT, Martin E, Wong W, Razook Z, Utama D, Guy AJ, Harrison ST, Cowman AF, Lin E, Kiniboro B, Laman M, Mueller I, Barry AE. Reticulocyte Binding Protein Homologue 5 is a target of balancing selection in the Plasmodium falciparum population of Papua New Guinea. Frontiers in Parasitology. 2023;2:10.3389/fpara.2023.1288867

Bailey BL, Nguyen W, Cowman AF, Sleebs BE. Chemo‐proteomics in antimalarial target identification and engagement. Medicinal Research Reviews. 2023;43(6):10.1002/med.21975

Lab research projects

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