Category: Outreach

Reconnecting: Launch of the NTD Network online research seminars series

Our huge thanks to Professor Ariel Silber, from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the head of our South American HUB, who opened our online research seminar series today, introduced by Network Fellow Dr. Brian Mantilla and also to the 65 attendees who joined us!  This is the first of a series of talks providing our NTD Network partners with a route to share findings and discuss ideas, in the absence of face-to-face research updates at our AGM this year.  The seminars will take place on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, and are open to our NTD Network partners, their teams, and our international advisory panel members. Check our blog page for an updated list of our seminar schedule and speakers for 2020!

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“Love in a time of [coronavirus]”: COVID-19 in context

“All that was needed was shrewd questioning… to conclude once again that the symptoms of love were the same as those of cholera.”
This quote is from the novel ‘Love in a time of Cholera’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (‘Gabo’ to our South American colleagues), set during the sixth cholera pandemic of 1899-1923.  I began reading it in January, alongside the emerging research literature on COVID-19, whilst representing our Network and the Durham Centre for Global infectious Diseases though over 30 interviews to UK local, national and international radio and TV, discussing the biology and disease epidemiology of coronaviruses.  This juxtaposition has caused me to think a lot about pandemics and has brought to my awareness some surprising similarities between cholera and COVID-19.  Let me explain.

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Gaining skills for drug discovery and beyond: Medicinal Chemistry training in Mendoza

“This training provided me with input which I didn’t know I needed, but has changed everything!” 
“These four days have been a real turning point!”
These remarks, from Jaime Isern and Victor De Sousa-Agostino, were the first responses I heard from our two PhD students from Durham University, upon their return from the NTD Network’s medicinal chemistry training workshop, held in Medoza city, Argentina, 2nd-4th November 2019.

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The NTD Network in Argentina: Our team at CONICET

Today the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Argentina published an interview with Professor Claudio Pereira on the NTD Network and the role of our Network partners amongst its membership.  The Network project is seeking novel drug targets towards solutions for two neglected tropical diseases, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, alongside forging new industrial collaborations and training early career researchers in the specialist skills needed for this vital work.
Claudio, based at the Instituto de Investigaciones Medicas Alfredo Lanari in Buenos Aires (IDIM, CONICET-BA) is scoping the druggable potential of proteins involved cross-membrane transport of metabolites in Trypanosoma cruzi (causing Chagas disease).  Read the interview on the work of Claudio and his team, here.
Our other partners are Professor Julia Cricco at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Rosario (IBR, CONICET-UNR), investigating components of heme uptake and biosynthesis, and Professor Guillermo Labadie at the Rosario Institute of Chemistry (IQUIR, CONICET-UNR), investigating naturally-sourced compounds for their potential as novel anti-parasitic drugs. 
Guilllermo is co-organising an upcoming Network training workshop in skills for drug discovery, at Mendoza City, Argentina, 2-4 November 2019; bursaries are available to support students to attend.  Workshop information is available via our events page.