In a paper to appear Jan 20 in Cell, researchers from Notre Dame University report on a newly-discovered mechanism for malaria parasites to target red blood cells. The researchers found that malaria host-targeted proteins bind to lipid phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate, PIP, in the endoplasmic reticulum. According to the press release from Notre Dame, “Their interdisciplinary collaboration reveals a fundamental, novel cellular function…” You can check out the full paper here.
January 20, 2012
January 6, 2012
Open Source Drug Discovery for Malaria
There is a cool new effort unifying several themes of interest to us here, namely global health, drug discovery, and open science efforts. Open Source Drug Discovery for Malaria (OSDD for Malaria) is a venture started recently by the lab of Dr. Matthew Todd, an organic chemist, at the University of Sydney and the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV). Basically, OSDD for Malaria will act as a hub for global efforts in open source drug discovery for malaria. You can ready more about the project at the link above or on the Highlight Health blog. Be sure also to circle them in G+ if you are into that sort of thing.
December 30, 2011
10 Global Health Achievements of 2011
There is a nice list of global health wins this year from Karl Hofmann, President and CEO of PSI, the world’s largest social marketing firm. You can see his list on the Huffington Post. Highlights include exciting progress on a malaria vaccine, “Treatment as Prevention” for HIV, and progress on the rate of vaccination against pneumonia.
