A/Prof Justin Boddey, Lab Head | WEHI Researcher Profile

About

Our laboratory is interested in understanding how malaria parasites manipulate their intracellular environment in order to live within humans.

We are examining:

How the parasite enters liver cells.
How the parasite survives inside liver cells.
How the parasite is transmitted to, and develops within, mosquitoes.
Our recent research has focused on how malaria parasites commandeer red blood cells by exporting their own proteins into these cells. This has revealed potential new targets for antimalarial treatments. We are very keen to see whether these parasite targets are also active during the earliest and last phases of malaria in the human host, in order to intercept the parasite at multiple stages of its lifecycle.

We use cell biology and biochemistry to study the parasite and its interactions with the host. We also utlise the institute’s new insectary, in which Anopheles stenphensi mosquitoes are reared and can be infected with P. falciparum, P. vivax and P. berghei parasites. We use in vitro and humanised models to study malaria-host interactions across the lifecycle.

Our research also involves the development of small molecule inhibitors for use as tools to understand the role of protein export across the lifecycle, and also for potential use as antiparasitic therapies.

Education

Grants and funding

Publications

Selected publications from A/Prof Justin Boddey

Wang L, Qu J, Harari O, Boddey JA, Wang Z, Linna-Kuosmanen S. The impact of multi-omics in medicine. Cell Reports Medicine. 2024;5(9):10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101742

Angage D, Chmielewski J, Maddumage JC, Hesping E, Caiazzo S, Lai KH, Yeoh LM, Menassa J, Opi DH, Cairns C, Puthalakath H, Beeson JG, Kvansakul M, Boddey JA, Wilson DW, Anders RF, Foley M. A broadly cross-reactive i-body to AMA1 potently inhibits blood and liver stages of Plasmodium parasites. Nature Communications. 2024;15(1):10.1038/s41467-024-50770-7

Darif N-D, Ganter M, Dziekan JM, Kilian N, Brancucci N, Ng C, de Vries LE, Guttery D, Philip N, Boddey JA, Metwally NG, Okumu F, Kooij TWA, Absalon S, Bryant JM. BioMalPar XX: looking back on, and forward from, 20 years of malaria research. Trends in Parasitology. 2024;40(8):10.1016/j.pt.2024.06.012

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

Hesping E, Boddey JA. Whole‐genome CRISPR screens to understand Apicomplexan–host interactions. Molecular Microbiology. 2024;121(4):10.1111/mmi.15221

Preston SP, Stutz MD, Allison CC, Nachbur U, Gouil Q, Tran BM, Duvivier V, Arandjelovic P, Cooney JP, Mackiewicz L, Meng Y, Schaefer J, Bader SM, Peng H, Valaydon Z, Rajasekaran P, Jennison C, Lopaticki S, Farrell A, Ryan M, Howell J, Croagh C, Karunakaran D, Schuster-Klein C, Murphy JM, Fifis T, Christophi C, Vincan E, Blewitt ME, Thompson A, Boddey JA, Doerflinger M, Pellegrini M. Epigenetic Silencing of RIPK3 in Hepatocytes Prevents MLKL-mediated Necroptosis From Contributing to Liver Pathologies. Gastroenterology. 2022;163(6):10.1053/j.gastro.2022.08.040

Clucas D, Bennett C, Steel R, Mellin R, Caiazzo S, Schaeper U, Boddey J, Ataide R, Pasricha S-R. Tmprss6 Depletion-Mediated Iron Deficiency Attenuates the Clinical Course of Plasmodium Berghei Infection in Mice. Blood. 2022;140(Supplement 1):10.1182/blood-2022-165823

de Lera Ruiz M, Favuzza P, Guo Z, Zhao L, Hu B, Lei Z, Zhan D, Murgolo N, Boyce CW, Vavrek M, Thompson J, Ngo A, Jarman KE, Robbins J, Boddey J, Sleebs BE, Lowes KN, Cowman AF, Olsen DB, McCauley JA. The Invention of WM382, a Highly Potent PMIX/X Dual Inhibitor toward the Treatment of Malaria. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. 2022;13(11):10.1021/acsmedchemlett.2c00355

de Koning-Ward TF, Boddey JA, Fowkes FJI. Editorial: Molecular Approaches to Malaria 2020. International Journal for Parasitology. 2022;52(11):10.1016/j.ijpara.2022.11.001

Lopaticki S, McConville R, John A, Geoghegan N, Mohamed SD, Verzier L, Steel RWJ, Evelyn C, O’Neill MT, Soler NM, Scott NE, Rogers KL, Goddard-Borger ED, Boddey JA. Publisher Correction: Tryptophan C-mannosylation is critical for Plasmodium falciparum transmission. Nature Communications. 2022;13(1):10.1038/s41467-022-32664-8