Human Health
High-throughput Screening in C. elegans for Anthelmintics to treat Filarial Disease in the Developing World
CDR014- Project Leaders: Don Moerman
- Institutions: University of British Columbia (UBC)
- Budget: $74600
- Program/Competition: CDRD Innovation Fund
- Genome Centre(s): Genome British Columbia
- Fiscal Year: 2014
- Status: Closed
Onchocerciasis (river blindness) and lymphatic filiariasis (elephantiasis) are the most serious human health problems caused by parasitic worms. At least 25 million people are infected with Onchocerca volvulus worldwide; of these, 300,000 are blind and 800,000 have some sort of visual impairment. New drugs are needed for these diseases because resistance is emerging to the current therapies after many years of widespread use in animals and humans. The goal of this project was to find novel inhibitors capable of killing both wild-type and drug resistant worms, while not being significantly toxic to mammalian cells. 50,000 compounds were screened and analysis of the data is ongoing.
