Last Updated: 14/08/2025
Mechanisms of egress in P. falciparum: identification of new therapeutic targets
Objectives
The objectives of this project are to:
- utilize conditional knockout strains for PKG and CDPK5 kinases, co-expressing a Nano-Luciferase (Nluc) reporter, to elucidate the role of these kinases in parasite egress from infected red blood cells and to identify other molecules involved in this process;
- evaluate the effect of novel antiparasitic compounds on essential parasite cellular functions, including transport protein activity, host cell invasion, and egress;
- develop and refine methodologies for conditional gene expression in Plasmodium parasites; and
- optimize the use of bioluminescent transgenic parasite lines for target identification of new antimalarial drugs.
Malaria is a public health problem in Brazil and worldwide. The sequencing of the genomes of several species of its causative agent, a protozoan of the genus Plasmodium, followed by large-scale studies such as transcriptomes and proteomes, has allowed a greater understanding of the biology of the parasite and its interaction with the host. In parallel, thousands of compounds have been tested, with some found to have a significant effect on the development and / or proliferation of the parasite in cell cultures in vitro. Reverse genetics has allowed us to determine which genes encode proteins essential to certain phases of the parasite’s life cycle and eventually understand their function. In addition, transgenic parasite strains can be used to identify compounds with antiparasitic activities and eventually provide indications about their targets.
Aug 2016 — Jan 2019
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