Identification of natural antiparasitic products produced by insect–bacterial symbiosis

Abstract

Natural products have provided valuable leads for drug design and development, with a special recent recognition of natural products produced by microbial symbionts as promising leads/drugs candidates. This ICBG is highly focused in the discovery of antifungal, antiparasitic and anticancer agents. Since their discovery many decades ago, Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis (protozoan diseases) still present major treatment challenges. Despite their high impact, millions are infected and thousands die annually, the few drugs available display numerous drawbacks, including serious side effects and low efficacy. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of safe and effective new medicines to meet the therapeutic needs of the affected individuals. This postdoctoral research project will prioritize bacterial strains that have been found as active against primary assays using Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania donovani (screening carried out by Prof. Adriano Andricopulo, IFSC-USP, co-investigator in AP1). Selected bacterial strains will be re-cultured in large scale, extracts will be prepared and compounds will be isolated using chromatographic methods. Large efforts will be concentrated in the structural identification of new natural products, using extensive NMR and MS methods. (AU)