Strathclyde researchers receive US$100,000 grant
For research into laser-targeted system to vaccinate against Leishmania
A research team at Strathclyde University in Scotland has received more than £65,000 (US$100,000) in a Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The grant will support a global health research project by Owain Millington and Gail McConnell for a laser-targeted system to vaccinate against Leishmania infection.
There are two million new cases each year of Leishmania in nearly 90 countries, mainly in Asia, Africa and South America. It is a chronic, disfiguring and potentially fatal infection but many of the treatments used against it have serious side effects and it is often resistant to first-line treatment.
The multi-disciplinary research will combine immunology, parasitology and laser-based imaging to design and build a new vaccination system. It involves using one laser system to create images of Leishmania parasites, subsequently deploying a second laser to kill the parasites within cells. Importantly, cells that harbour Leishmania also control the induction of an immune response. The researchers intend not only to destroy parasites in these cells, but also to determine whether the treatment brings long-lasting protective immunity against re-infection.
Millington and McConnell are Research Councils UK Fellows with the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences.
‘The Leishmania parasite is hugely damaging and one of its worst features is that it manipulates the immune system to prolong its survival,’ said Millington. ‘This means there's an urgent need for new drugs to control the diseases it creates, and protect against infection.
‘There has been a great deal of research into the development of vaccines but it has had only limited success in preventing infection. Our aim is to work towards creating immunity with new and improved imaging systems to find, target and kill Leishmania parasites in a way that is less invasive and less time-consuming than current methods. We also hope to investigate the possibility of extending it to the treatment of other diseases.’
‘The winners of these grants show the bold thinking we need to tackle some of the world’s greatest health challenges,’ said Dr Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation’s Global Health Programme.
Millington’s project is one of 78 grants announced by the Gates Foundation in the fourth funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, which is an initiative to help scientists around the world explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries. The grants were provided to scientists in 18 countries on six continents.