GSK
University of Strathclyde

The emergence of antimicrobial resistance is a global health concern, particularly for tropical diseases that impact the marginalised and resource-constrained areas of the world. The two largest parasitic diseases, malaria and visceral leishmaniasis, are of significant concern. Malaria is the world’s deadliest parasitic disease and causes more than 600,000 deaths annually, the majority of which are Sub-Saharan children. Visceral leishmaniasis, is the second largest parasitic killer in the world and is estimated to have nearly 100,000 new cases annually. Resistance to current treatments for these tropical diseases is hugely detrimental on communities in the developing world. As such, novel therapeutics that act via a new mechanism are urgently needed.

Claudine’s work aims to identify chemical tools that target a family of essential proteins called bromodomains of the malarial and leishmania parasite strains. These parasite proteins are vital for parasite function and survival, therefore the inhibition of the bromodomains would result in parasite-death.

Developing high quality tools for these proteins would enable the validation of this novel mechanism, in addition to providing starting points in the development of therapeutics to tackle this global issue.

Biography

Following her secondary school education in France, Claudine graduated with a First Class degree from the University of Strathclyde in the department of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Claudine was introduced to the pharmaceutical industry through her placement with GSK. The company’s mission of generating a positive impact and tackling disease gave her a strong sense of purpose in conducting her research. From this opportunity, Claudine then gained a PhD position on the competitive GSK/Strathclyde programme in Chemical Biology and has since presented at several international conferences including ACS Fall 2023, and 3^rd RSC Anglo-Nordic Medicinal Chemistry Symposium, where she was awarded a first place poster prize.