Understanding membrane-mediated antimalarial mechanisms using diffraction and molecular dynamics simulations

As one of the most devastating diseases worldwide, malaria claims the lives of more than 500,000 individuals annually. While current antimalarial treatments are mostly effective, resistance to modern medication is becoming an increasing concern. For this reason, the complete characterization of alternative lines of treatment are necessary to ensure a sustainable antimalarial medical infrastructure. Most notably, the quinoline-4-methanol class of drugs are highly effective antimalarial agents that are rarely prescribed, in part due to a lack of understanding of their mechanism of action. Some scientists suggest that this mechanism is non-specific; rather than acting directly on a protein or effector within the cell, these studies have proposed that these drugs interact with the phospholipid membranes that surround living cells. While these results will be significant to combatting antimalarial resistance, it is also anticipated that this unique combination of biophysical techniques will provide a new and robust methodology that could be used universally to inform the process of pre-clinical drug design.

Basic Science
Drug-based Strategies
Product Development

Sep 2018 — Aug 2019

$13,501

Canada