PhD Opportunity – Exploring redox homeostasis in the mitochondria of the parasites causing malaria and toxoplasmosis

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Summary: This project will reveal opportunities for drug discovery for the deadly malaria and toxoplasmosis parasites through understanding how these parasites deal with redox stress and how redox regulators function. Apicomplexan parasites are hypersensitive to changes in their redox balance compared to their host. We showed that genetic depletion of Toxoplasma redox regulators kills the parasites and that depletion of the antioxidant lipoic acid in the malaria parasites blocks its growth in their mosquito vector. Yet it is not understood what is the cellular role of the corresponding redox regulators and how do they function. A major cellular location that controls redox balance is the mitochondrion (the cell’s “power house”). The project will ask what is the role of the parasite mitochondrion in controlling cellular redox inside the parasite and how can this sensitivity be leveraged to develop novel drugs?

Techniques: cell biology, molecular biology, parasitology, biochemistry and microscopy.

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