Our goal is developing new inhibitors active against the parasite and the potential subsequent development of a new therapeutic against malaria. In our initial projects we are focusing on the development of novel inhibitors based on kinase targets in the parasite.
In the SAM pilot within SYNERGY we decided to use the Plasmodium falciparum mitogen-activated kinase 2 (PfMAP-2). The protein is essential for parasite survival but not related to any human kinase, thus offering the potential to find parasite-selective inhibitors.