Drug discovery of a pre-clinical candidate for malaria

• Grant number: 22/11772-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2023
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Carlos Dias
• Grantee: Celso Yassuo Okada Júnior
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Company: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Química (IQ)
• Associated research grant: 15/50655-9 - FAPESP/MMV/DNDi/UNICAMP/USP Consortium to discover new drugs for the treatment of tropical parasitic diseases, AP.PITE

Abstract

The work proposal for the postdoctoral fellowship involves collaboration with the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV, www.mmv.org), a non-profit research and development organization that works to offer new treatments for neglected diseases, especially malaria.The aim of the project is to investigate the synthesis of analogs of target molecules, sent by MMV, as a starting point to discover a compound that meets the criteria for MMV final candidates, aiming at the prevention and treatment of malaria. The duration of this project is 24 months. To overcome limited accessibility to molecules and reduced screening capacity, MMV aims to catalyze research to discover new and small active molecules orally, with potential for future development. These publications are a huge resource for advancing drug discovery activities against malaria and redefine traditional rules on intellectual property.The postdoctoral student must perform the synthesis and biological evaluation of the chemical series sent by MMV.