D) Explore the utilization of small molecules in vaccine development (Chemical genetics)
Without an effective vaccine and with the decaying efficacies of current anti-malaria drugs, malaria is a disease with 300 – 500 million cases and 1.5 – 2.7 million deaths each year (caused by plasmodium species, mainly P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae). Among the ~ 5,500 malaria genes on 14 chromosomes, roughly 14% were assigned as metabolic enzymes and the majority of malaria genes do not have assigned functions. More challengingly, many malaria genes are proposed to be responsible for invading the hosts or escaping the host’s immune system. Thus, malaria functional genomic studies need to be conducted in animal models directly to reflect the effect of host-pathogen interactions. Ideal tools to meet such a need will be tools enabling reversible, temporal control of gene functions in animal models. We are developing and optimizing small molecule-based chemical genetic tools.