Professor Ian Gilbert (right) one of the leaders of the Dundee research effort said, “This is tremendouslyexciting and amazing progress. We have discovered an entirely new class of compound that holds a great deal of antimalarial promise.”

The project started after the biology team at the DDU screened one of
their collections of compounds against the malaria parasite. The results
of this screen gave rise to a number of suitable chemical start points.

Over the course of 18 months, two of these compound series have been modified and refined through cycles of compound design, chemical synthesis and biological testing to the point where they show excellent activity in a mouse model of malaria.

“Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV ) is pleased to be working with the dedicated team at the University of Dundee,” said Tim Wells, CSO at MMV. “Malaria control and elimination continues to face numerous challenges, not least of which is the threat of emerging resistance to the current effective treatment – artemisinin.

"In preparation for this eventuality MMV and partners are researching over 50 projects in the largest-ever pipeline of antimalarial medicines. DDU scientists have given us more compounds to work on that we hope to take through the
research process. If successful, this class of compounds could well become a new source of much-needed alternatives to artemisinin, one day.”

The research has now been focused on one of the compound series, which fulfils all of MMV’s criteria for an “early lead”, and has now entered the phase of drug discovery called “lead optimisation”. In
this phase, the DDU team works to further improve the properties of the compounds to the point where they can select a candidate drug.

Following further studies the candidate would then be ready to enter clinical trials. Based on current progress, the scientists hope to have selected a candidate within one year.

STERILISING MOSQUITOES
Malaria, dengue and yellow fever virus are caused by parasites carried by the mosquitoes, but one species Aedes aegypti alone carries dengue and bites during daylight.

Oxitec, a biotechnology company spinoff from Oxford and co-founded by zoology researcher Dr LukeAlphey in 2002. has raised about $24m from investors, including Oxford and takes a genetic bio breed sterility approach to the mosquito, cotton bollworm (moth caterpillar) and the fruit fly.

They have treated a strain of A. aegypti with two copies of a gene that disrupts the development of offspring. The gene is switched off in the presence of the antibiotic tetracycline, allowing large numbers of perfectly fit mosquitoes to be bred for release.

"With our system, the mosquitoes are fundamentally sterile and we're keeping them alive by giving them an artificial antidote," says Alphey. The insects also have a DsRed marker gene, to enable them to be easily monitored.

When these mosquitoes mate with wild females, the eggs hatch and the larvae develop normally until they reach the pupae stage, when the killer genes impacts. Delaying death like this means doomed larvae compete with wild larvae for resources, further reducing their numbers.

Oxitec however reports  New York Times, is accused by some of rushing into field testing without sufficient review and public consultation, sometimes in countries with weak regulations.

“Even if the harms don’t materialise, this will undermine the credibility and legitimacy of the research enterprise,” said (left) Lawrence O. Gostin, professor of international health law at Georgetown University.

Experts assembled by the World Health Organization are preparing guidelines on how field tests of genetically modified insects should be conducted. Proponents hope the field will not face the same opposition as biotechnology crops.


“You don’t eat insects,” said Dr. James  Everhart of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. “This is being done for a good cause.” But some might note that fish, birds and bat species do indeed eat the insects and human eat fish and birds.

Oxitec is focusing on dengue fever rather than malaria because a single mosquito species is responsible for most of its spread, while many species carry malaria. Unlike malaria, there are no drugs to treat dengue, and bed nets do not help prevent the disease because the mosquito bites during the day.

TRAPPING THE MOSQUITO
In a new, poison-free approach to malaria control, researchers  in the Solarmal project, led by Professor Willem Takken, professor of Medical and veterinary entomology at Wageningen University,  have expressed not only hope of eliminating  malaria in Africa at a local level, but also to provide the local population with a source of sustainable energy.   

Research into this combined approach was facilitated due to a donation to Wageningen University Fund, Netherlands by the COmON foundation.

Researchers plan to make the 10 by15km island of Rusinga (below right) in Lake Victoria malaria free. As part of the Solarmal project, the team will place odour-baited mosquito traps that lure the malaria mosquitoes away from the homes of the local population. This will lead to less biting, and less malaria transmission.

The project is being implemented in partnership with the local community, which will continue the work to eliminate malaria.Mosquito traps are hung outside and near the homes of the 30,000 island inhabitants. The traps contain 'an odour that smells like humans’ which attracts the mosquitoes and prevents them from flying indoors. Once trapped, the insects are killed by dehydration, thus making insecticides redundant.

 The power for traps ventilators is from a solar panel on the roof, which guarantees the operation of the traps and provides the households with electric light and a means to charge mobile phones. The plan is to eliminate malaria from the island of Rusinga in five years’ time and is a model for the approach elsewhere in Africa.

The insecticide-free approach also offers a solution to the increasing resistance of malaria mosquitoes to the chemicals with which mosquito nets are treated and house interiors are sprayed. The approach ombined with a power supply also improves the quality of life of the village population.

Above all, this method effectively supplements the successful Roll Back Malaria Strategy advocated by the World Health Organisation (WHO). With the introduction of mosquito nets impregnated with insecticide and early diagnosis + drug treatment, in the past decade the WHO has managed to stabilise or even reduce the number of malaria cases after a long period of increase, mainly in Africa.