Development of preclinical candidates for the treatment of malaria within the scope of the MINDI consortium

• Grant number: 23/12973-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2024
• End date: March 20, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Carlos Dias
• Grantee: Thais Helena Maciel Fernandes
• 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 internship involves collaboration with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV, www.mmv.org), a not-for-profit research and development organization working to offer new treatments for malaria.The objective of the project is to investigate the synthesis of analogues of target molecules, sent by MMV, as a starting point to discover a compound that meets the criteria for final candidates of MMV, aiming at the prevention and treatment of Malaria. The duration of this project is 12 months. To overcome limited accessibility to molecules and reduced screening capacity, MMV aims to catalyze research towards the discovery of new, orally active small molecules, with potential for future development. These publications are a huge resource for advancing malaria drug discovery activities and redefine traditional rules regarding intellectual property.The post-doctoral researcher must carry out the synthesis and biological evaluation of the chemical series sent by MMV, based on its screening programs.The chemistry involved for the synthesis of these compounds is robust and scalable for pre-clinical development.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.