Schistosomiasis is one of the world's most serious and prevalent diseases affecting nearly 200 million people world-wide. It is currently treated with a single drug, though there is growing concern about the development of resistance to it. In this proposal we will explore whether a new cellular pathway involving the cell death machinery we have identified in the disease-causing parasites could provide a possible target for the development of new treatments against schistosomiasis.
Schistosomiasis is a disease caused by parasites known as schistosomes. As the current use of a single drug could lead to resistance, there is an urgency for new drugs. I discovered a novel cell death machinery in schistosomes and I now aim to unravel how this cell death pathway works and to identify the players required for parasite survival. The next step will then be to develop molecules that neutralize the activity of these pro-survival molecules hence leading to parasite death.