Christian Doerig- Deputy of Cluster Four

Director of the INSERM unit U609 and a member of the Global Health Institute at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausnne (EPFL) that retains affiliation to the Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology (University of Glasgow), is a molecular parasitologist with an interest in drug discovery. His research concerns the molecular mechanisms controlling cell division and differentiation in malaria parasites and the design of specific inhibitors of these processes. His group has specialized in the study of protein kinases that act as cell cycle control elements, and is engaged in biochemical and reverse genetics studies aimed at understanding the function of these proteins in the life cycle of the parasite, and at elucidating the structure of the regulatory networks in which they function. Reverse genetics has identified several kinases that are essential for asexual proliferation or sexual development, and hence represent validated targets for curative or transmission-blocking drugs, respectively.

Recent research in the Doerig laboratory and elsewhere has shown that plasmodial protein kinases diverge significantly, both structurally and functionally, from their counterparts in higher eukaryotes. Together with the fact that many protein kinases are essential to parasite survival, this lends hope that specific inhibition of parasitic kinases is achievable, and may lead to the development of a novel anti-malarial. Recombinant enzymes have been adapted to high throughput screening procedures using large chemical libraries. Christian Doerig has been the coordinator of three EU consortia in Framework Programmes FP5, 6, and 7. The latter, entitled “Signalling in life cycle stages of the malaria parasites”, has started in February 2009 and involves 21 laboratories in the EU and India.”