The Future of Malaria: Resistance to Front-Line Drugs
Presented by:
Elizabeth A. Winzeler
Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pharmacology and Drug Discovery Director of Translational Research
UC Health Sciences Center for Immunology, Infection and Inflammation UC San Diego, School of Medicine
Program Overview:
Malaria endangers the health of up to 40% of the world's population and kills up to a million children each year. Although improvements have been made, existing and emerging parasite resistance to front-line drugs threatens to undo efforts to reduce global morbidity and mortality. Dr. Winzeler has been involved in public-private partnerships to place new antimalarial drugs in the development pipeline.
Using novel cellular screening methods and reverse chemical genomics, the team has discovered several novel chemotypes for the treatment of malaria, several of which are now in clinical trials, as well as a handful of new chemically-validated antimalarial drug targets. The approaches described may be useful for discovering new ways to treat a variety of infectious diseases as well as for finding the weakest points in a pathogen's armor.
Who Should Attend:
Scientists, engineers, physicians, healthcare leaders, venture capitalists, technology and life sciences professionals, services providers and business leaders.
About the Speaker:
Elizabeth Winzeler, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at University of California, School of Medicine. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences and Art from Lewis and Clark College in 1984. After a hiatus working as software developer she returned to academia and obtained a Ph. D. at Stanford in 1996 in the Department of Developmental Biology, working with the development microbiologist, Lucy Shapiro. As a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford from 1996-1999 she worked with the yeast geneticist, Ron Davis before moving to San Diego to take up a joint appointment at Scripps Research Institute and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in 1999.
In 2004 she was awarded the prestigious New Scholar in Biomedical Research award from the Keck Foundation. At the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation she has led a malaria drug discovery effort that has resulted in the identification of several novel antimalarial chemotypes that are currently in clinical trials. Her group uses systematic, data intensive methods to solve problems at the interface of host pathogen biology typically utilizing large collections of chemical screening data, whole genome sequencing, or other “big data.” She recently moved to the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine to join a group focused on Infection, Immunity and Inflammation.
Event Details
Date: Thursday, June 28, 2012
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Location: AMN Healthcare
12400 High Bluff Drive # 100
San Diego, CA 92130
Lunch will be provided for participants
Fees:
CONNECT Members: $20
Non-Members: $30
Students: $10
At the Door: $40
Contact:
Darci Manzo, Program Manager
dmanzo@connect.org
858-964-1302
