Development of new transfection and drug delivery platforms.
Methods for the treatment of parasitic diseases (human, animal and plant) have recently focussed on techniques for improving the delivery of a drug to the location of the parasite within the host, followed by its subsequent uptake into the parasite. As part of our efforts in the development of new anti-parasitic agents, we have developed a new system able to deliver small molecular weight units as well as larger biomolecules (13 kD) selectively across cellular membranes. Our delivery system can be selectively tuned depending on the type of parasite being targeted (i.e. kinetidoplastida, apicomplexan, worms).
Significantly, we have also been able to selectively target intracellular parasites without affecting uninfected host cells. This opens the tantalising opportunity to be able to use our system to deliver a variety of agents and vectors with little or no toxicity at all stages of the parasite’s life-cycle including the intracellular stages.
As part of the next stages of the work, we will be focusing on the delivery of small molecular weight drugs, functional proteins, nanobodies and DNA fragments. This work will be carried out with collaborators at the Nagasaki School of Tropical Medicine, AgResearch Palmerston North and the Veterinary School at Massey University, the Universite de Marseille, the University of Glasgow, Zoetis and the ANU. This ambitious research programme involves a combination of organic and biological chemistry, structural biology, parasitology and genetics which if successful, will prove a new platform for molecular biology and parasitology research.
