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Florida Atlantic University is part of a multidisciplinary research team awarded a highly competitive five-year, $3.8 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to develop a novel class of drugs targeting Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest parasite responsible for malaria. The project is a collaboration with Brown University and Florida International University, with funding shared equally among the three institutions.

The project builds upon groundbreaking discoveries that identified a unique parasite protein, PfGARP, as a promising target for next-generation antimalarial therapies. Andrew V. Oleinikov, Ph.D., professor of biomedical science in ��������’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and a multi-principal investigator on the award, will lead ��������’s efforts to identify and evaluate drug candidates capable of killing malaria parasites through an entirely new mechanism. The research aims to accelerate the development of innovative therapies to combat rising drug resistance and ultimately reduce the global burden of one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases.

“This award builds on decades of research to better understand how Plasmodium falciparum infects and survives within the human body,” said Oleinikov. “With previous support from Dr. Ralph and Marian Falk Medical Research Trust, which helped us to accumulate strong preliminary data, and this support from the National Institutes of Health, we can accelerate the development of an entirely new approach to antimalarial drug discovery – one designed to outpace drug resistance and ultimately improve the lives of millions of people living in regions where malaria remains a constant threat.”

Read the press release.