Thursday, March 13, 2025
3/13/2025
Project Summary There is a need for new antimalarial drug leads, particularly for treating drug resistant malaria. Fungi have been the source of many drug leads, with penicillin and the statins as two of the most prominent examples. We hypothesize that fungi harbor antimalarial drug leads, and we are addressing this via a team with expertise in mycology (Mycosynthetix/Pearce), natural products chemistry (UNCG/Oberlies), and parasitology/malaria (UGA/Kyle). In the examination of 40,000 fungal cultures from the Mycosythetix library, we have implemented biological and chemical protocols to prioritize our efforts. In doing so, we have now selected 8 fungal cultures that have potent antimalarial activity, minimal cytotoxicity to mammalian cells, and do not biosynthesize common nuisance compounds (i.e. mycotoxins). That averages to the analysis of ~1 fungal culture per quarter over this 2 year project. Our team is poised to isolate, elucidate, and evaluate antimalarial drug leads from these cultures. In addition, we will prioritize the 1 to 2 best leads, such that ample materials are produced for more in depth biological evaluation.
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