Target Identification of anti-cryptosporidials compounds from High throughput screenings against Cryptosporidium parvum

Cryptosporidium parvum is one of the top causative agents of diarrheal disease and malnutrition in Africa with no vaccine available and the only FDA approved drug Nitazoxanide is ineffective in immunocompromised individuals, so the need for new drugs is sorely needed.

This PhD project aims to identify and validate the mechanism of action and drug target of a compound that has been identified as a hit from high throughput screens in C. parvum.

To achieve this, I will first determine the compounds host cell toxicity to validate that the hit is due to C. parvum death and use methods such as thermal proteomic profiling (TPP) to identify the compounds target respectively.

Following this, genetic validation of the drugs target will be performed ensuring that the hypothetical target is essential for parasite survival. The success of this project would identify a new drug target that can be exploited with more optimised drugs.