In vitro and in vivo antimalarial activity and chemical profiling of sugarcane leaves. (2022)
Journal Article
Okokon, J. E., Mobley, R., Edem, U. A., Bassey, A. I., Fadayomi, I., Drijfhout, F., …Li, W. (2022). In vitro and in vivo antimalarial activity and chemical profiling of sugarcane leaves. Scientific reports, 10250 - ?. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14391-8

Saccharum officinarum Linn. (sugarcane, Family-Poaceae) is employed in Ibibio traditional medicine for the treatment of various infections and diseases such as malaria. We This study aims to assess the antiplasmodial effect of the leaf extract and fr... Read More about In vitro and in vivo antimalarial activity and chemical profiling of sugarcane leaves..

The relative rate of kill of the MMV Malaria Box compounds provide links to the mode of antimalarial action and highlight scaffolds of medicinal chemistry interest (2019)
Journal Article
Horrocks. (2019). The relative rate of kill of the MMV Malaria Box compounds provide links to the mode of antimalarial action and highlight scaffolds of medicinal chemistry interest. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 362-370. https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkz443

Objectives: Rapid rate-of-kill (RoK) is a key parameter in the target candidate profile 1 (TCP1) for the next-generation antimalarial drugs for uncomplicated malaria, termed Single Encounter Radical Cure and Prophylaxis (SERCaP). TCP1 aims to rapidly... Read More about The relative rate of kill of the MMV Malaria Box compounds provide links to the mode of antimalarial action and highlight scaffolds of medicinal chemistry interest.

Flavonoid versus artemisinin anti-malarial activity in Artemisia annua whole-leaf extracts (2019)
Journal Article
Horrocks. (2019). Flavonoid versus artemisinin anti-malarial activity in Artemisia annua whole-leaf extracts. Frontiers in Plant Science, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.00984

Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone produced by Artemisia annua glandular secretory trichomes, is the active ingredient in the most effective treatment for uncomplicated malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum parasites. Other metabolites in A. annu... Read More about Flavonoid versus artemisinin anti-malarial activity in Artemisia annua whole-leaf extracts.

Development of NanoLuc-PEST expressing Leishmania mexicana as a new drug discovery tool for axenic- and intramacrophage-based assays. (2018)
Journal Article
Price, H., Berry, S., Hameed, H., Thomason, A., Maciej-Hulme, M., Saif Abou-Akkada, S., & Horrocks, P. (2018). Development of NanoLuc-PEST expressing Leishmania mexicana as a new drug discovery tool for axenic- and intramacrophage-based assays. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 12(7), Article e0006639 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006639

The protozoan parasite Leishmania causes leishmaniasis; a spectrum of diseases of which there are an estimated 1 million new cases each year. Current treatments are toxic, expensive, difficult to administer, and resistance to them is emerging. New th... Read More about Development of NanoLuc-PEST expressing Leishmania mexicana as a new drug discovery tool for axenic- and intramacrophage-based assays..

G-quadruplex DNA motifs in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and their potential as novel antimalarial drug targets (2018)
Journal Article
Horrocks. (2018). G-quadruplex DNA motifs in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and their potential as novel antimalarial drug targets. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.01828-17

G-quadruplexes are DNA or RNA secondary structures that can be formed from guanine-rich nucleic acids. These four-stranded structures, composed of stacked quartets of guanine bases, can be highly stable and have been demonstrated to occur in vivo in... Read More about G-quadruplex DNA motifs in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and their potential as novel antimalarial drug targets.

Identification of heparin modifications and polysaccharide inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum merozoite invasion that have potential for novel drug development. (2017)
Journal Article
Boyle, M. J., Skidmore, M., Dickerman, B., Cooper, L., Devlin, A., Yates, E., …Beeson, J. G. (2017). Identification of heparin modifications and polysaccharide inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum merozoite invasion that have potential for novel drug development. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 61(11), https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.00709-17

Despite recent successful control efforts, malaria remains a leading global health burden. Alarmingly, resistance to current antimalarials is increasing, and the development of new drug families is needed to maintain malaria control. Current antimala... Read More about Identification of heparin modifications and polysaccharide inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum merozoite invasion that have potential for novel drug development..

Open Source Drug Discovery with the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond (2016)
Journal Article
Horrocks. (2016). Open Source Drug Discovery with the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond. PLOS pathogens a peer-reviewed open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1005763

A major cause of the paucity of new starting points for drug discovery is the lack of interaction between academia and industry. Much of the global resource in biology is present in universities, whereas the focus of medicinal chemistry is still larg... Read More about Open Source Drug Discovery with the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond.