College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
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Mapping Concepts from the Classroom to the Computer
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The War on Malaria
Some progress has already been made in this research. “We have so far identified a number of chemistries that show promise,” Bloomquist says.
This research borrows from a broad range of disciplines. While Bloomquist designs the enzyme assays and optimizes them for mosquito toxicity, Paulson, his colleague in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, oversees mosquito rearing and whole-insect bioassays. Deborah Carlier, another colleague in the college, serves as project manager and liaison with research collaborators.
Paul Carlier, an associate professor of chemistry in the College of Science, designs and synthesizes the inhibitors, and Eric Wong, a professor of animal and poultry sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, uses his genetics expertise to clone the acetylcholinesterase genes and create enzyme expression systems for bioassays. John Githure, head of the Human Health Division for the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology, brings an international component to the research by supervising field trials with candidate insecticides in Kenya.
The project even requires a computer scientist. Max Totrov, of Molesoft, guides the insecticide design by using computational determination of the Anopheles gambiae acetylcholinesterase enzyme and how it interacts with inhibitors at the atomic level.
The group has completed the first year of a three-year project supported by a $2.7 million grant from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH). Congress established the FNIH to support the National Institutes of Health’s mission to improve health through scientific discovery. The project is one of 44 projects in the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative. Financed in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the $436 million initiative funds researchers around the world who hope to make scientific breakthroughs against diseases that kill millions in poor, underdeveloped countries each year.
Most Americans, who by comparison live in one of the world’s wealthiest countries,do not live in fear of malaria, but this has not always been the case.
“As short a time ago as the 1940s, malaria was still endemic in the United States,” Paulson says.
Health officials sprayed pesticides, introduced screened windows and air conditioning, and drained breeding sites to thwart the illness. By 1951, they declared the country malaria-free.
Bloomquist and Paulson agree that scientists cannot curb Africa’s malaria infection rate without a plan resembling what happened in the United States a half century ago. Pest control, drug treatment, political and economic development, improved living conditions, and access to health care will all be needed. A multifaceted approach might be the only way to combat such a complex and widespread disease, they say.
For more information about this research project, visit the Malaria Project Webpage.
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| "As many as 2.5 million people are estimated to die each year from malaria, most of them are under the age of five," says Sally paulson, an associate professor of entomology. |
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| Anopheles gambiae Image courtesy of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases |