COPH partners with Thailand’s Mahidol University to study drug-resistant malaria
The USF College of Public Health (COPH) recently signed an agreement with the Faculty of Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University in Thailand.
“The birthplace of artemisinin resistance”
As part of the agreement, Thai faculty and students exploring RNA-sequencing and drug discovery will have the opportunity to come to COPH for training. RNA is a molecule similar to DNA; RNA sequencing is a technique used to reveal the presence and quantity of RNA in a sample.
This new partnership will provide COPH students from the USF genomics program with an opportunity to travel to Thailand for an international field experience in drug discovery.
“We hope this partnership will endure for many years to come.”
“This partnership with Mahidol University was created to better understand malaria drug resistance in Southeast Asia, the birthplace of artemisinin [an anti-malaria drug] resistance,” noted Dr. John Adams, a Distinguished University Professor specializing in malaria research who helped negotiate the agreement. “We hope this partnership will endure for many years to come.”
Background
The agreement stems from a series of previous collaborations between the COPH’s Adams’ Lab and Mahidol’s Dr. Kesinee Chotivanichthe.
In 2018, the Adams’ Lab published a paper titled “Uncovering the essential genes of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum by saturation mutagenesis.” The lab was able to insert point mutations (changes to a single nucleotide) within the whole genome of Plasmodium falciparum (one of the species of parasites that causes malaria). This made it possible to screen a wide range of P. falciparum mutants against drugs known to cause resistance in natural infections in order to understand the reason for resistance.
Testing theories
The next step is to test hypotheses on patient isolates exhibiting drug resistance. That’s where the partnership with Mahidol becomes particularly important.
“Resistance to anti-malarial drugs can develop in a region and spread throughout the world,” Adams said. “Dr. Chotivanichthe is studying malaria drug resistance in Thai patients and can provide P. falciparum patient isolates that are able to be screened in the Adams’ Lab. The comparison of known and unknown mutations will help us learn more about drug resistance. By better understanding how this takes place, we can suggest more effective parasite drug targets and also, one day, predict the potential for drug resistance.”
Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health