May 29, 2003
Project of the Year award for malaria research
An effort to test protein farnesyltransferase (PFT) inhibitors against malaria parasites has received the “Project of the Year Award” from the Medicines for Malaria Venture.
The award was given May 18 at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, to collaborators Drs. Wes Van Voorhis from the UW Department of Medicine, Mike Gelb of the UW Department of Chemistry, Andrew Hamilton from Yale University, and David Floyd of Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Drug companies have developed many PFT inhibitors because of their potential for cancer treatment. Normal human cells have a backup system that protects them when PFT is inhibited. However, malaria parasites lack this failsafe system and die when exposed to PFT inhibitors. PFT inhibitors hold promise as a possible new drug against malaria. Such research is critical because some malaria strains are resistant to all present-day drugs.
The researchers have screened more than 300 compounds known to inhibit PFT, and now have compounds that show great promise for drug therapy for malaria.
Other key investigators on the project are Drs. Fred Buckner, assistant professor of medicine; Christophe Verlinde, associate professor of biological structure; Louis Lombardo, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Debopam Chakrabarti, University of Central Florida.
Medicines for Malaria is a private, non-profit organization that funds malaria drug discovery, development, and distribution. A little less than half the funding comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the rest is from private donors and government sources.
