Dr Kesinee Chotivanich's laboratory provides facilities and resources to researchers, students, and collaborators who are interested in tropical diseases, with the aim to improve patients’ care. More effective diagnosis and treatments are needed to reduce the morbidity and mortality affecting malaria patients. Researchers at the Malaria Laboratory at MORU study the pathophysiology of the disease, and test new compound drugs for anti-malarial activity. In the context of growing artemisinin...

Dr Brian Marsden aims to make structural and chemical biology data accessible to non-experts, by providing computational resources including data management, sample tracking, in silico modelling support plus provision of public access to SGC data. Protein structures are powerful tools in the development of medical drugs, but they are not very accessible to non-specialists. Research informatics presents these structures more simply and interactively, and helps scientists make decisions. This...

Dr Ross Chapman studies the molecular events triggered by DNA damage detection, and why defects in these events lead to immune deficiency and cancer in humans. GENOME INTEGRITY Whilst controlled DNA breaks allow for our vast repertoire of antibodies, DNA damage happening out of context can lead to cancer or predisposition to cancer. Recent developments in personalised medicine exploit the DNA repair weaknesses of cancer cells to selectively kill them. A better understanding of the underlying...

There is a great need for better treatments for malaria and for a preventative malaria vaccine. SPACIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY & VACCINES Understanding the variation of malaria risk between houses, villages or region, and how malaria is transmitted in and around that variability helps develop better malaria control programmes and use their resources more wisely. Since malaria control tools are becoming less effective with time, progress in vaccine design is essential. Creative Commons...

The Cambodia Oxford Medical Research Unit (COMRU) is based in Siem Reap, northern Cambodia, which remains one of the poorest countries in South East Asia with extremely limited health services. PNEUMONIA IN CAMBODIA Infectious diseases are prevalent in Cambodia, a country that is struggling with poor infrastructure. Streptococcus pneumoniae causes the most severe form of pneumonia and is now targeted by the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Dr Paul Turner is studying the effect of this vaccine...

Dr Nicola Burgess-Brown heads the Biotechnology Group at the SGC, which generates proteins suitable for structural and functional studies. Recombinant protein expression in host cells such as bacterial or insect cells facilitates the production of large amounts of proteins, which can be used for crystallisation to obtain the protein structure, or in cellular assays to look at their function. Collaborations with partners such as academics, industry and patient groups aim to find compounds that...

The development of new medicines is dependent on the identification of novel drug targets. CHEMICAL BIOLOGY In the search for new medicines for cancer or inflammatory disorders, small molecules are invaluable tools for testing the activity of possible target proteins. Those small chemical compounds can also affect the morphology and phenotype of cell samples collected from patients, opening the possibility to develop new therapeutics.

Dr Direk Limmathurotsakul's research focuses on the epidemiology of melioidosis, a bacterial infection caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei. Melioidosis is endemic in at least 45 countries, but greatly under-reported. Up to 50% of cases seen in hospital die. Our researchers at MORU have produced a rapid diagnostic test that aims to improve both diagnosis and public awareness. Better coordination between researchers and policy makers is needed to face upcoming emerging infectious diseases....

Dr Claudia Turner heads the clinical research program at the Cambodia Oxford Medical Research Unit (COMRU), in collaboration with the Angkor Hospital for Children. Whereas children mortality has dramatically decreased over the past 15 years, almost half the remaining mortality still occurs during the first 4 weeks of age. Neonatology, or care of newborns, doesn't need to be difficult or expensive. Low cost intervertions involving communities, such as keeping babies warm, save lives. Creative...

Dr Chris Paton studies the use of open-source Electronic Health Records (EHR) software, online learning and mobile technology to improve healthcare delivery in low-resource settings. LEARNING HEALTH SYSTEM In a learning health system, health care providers use electronic health records to identify problems, implement local solutions and check if the solutions are effective. Health informatics, or the use of IT in healthcare, needs to find innovative solutions for low income settings, such...

With 390 million infections occuring each year, dengue is the most important mosquito-borne viral infection, and no vaccine is currently available. DENGUE The majority of people infected with the dengue virus experience a flu-like febrile illness, but in a small proportion of patients, particularly children, the virus causes the blood vessels to become leaky which can induce shock and lead to death. Improved diagnosis and understanding of the disease process enable better outcomes for...

Growth hormones and cytokines regulate the key physiological processes of growth and differentiation as well as responses to injury and infection. FIBRODYSPLASIA OSSIFICANS PROGRESSIVA Growth factors and signals are fundamental to many diseases. A single point mutation in the DNA coding for a bone morphogenetic protein is responsible for the development of FOP, a very debilitating disease where muscles are progressively turned into bones. Understanding these mechanisms allowed the selection...

In pregnant women, severe malaria is responsible for high maternal mortality, and uncomplicated malaria results in in high morbidity. Professor Rose McGready works on the treatment and epidemiology of uncomplicated malaria in pregnancy. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable as pregnancy reduces the immunity to malaria, increasing the susceptibility to malaria infection and the risk of illness, severe anaemia and death. For the unborn child, maternal malaria increases the risk of...

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are a stigmatised group in Africa, but a predominant actor in the transmission of HIV. Professor Eduard Sanders is interested in putting together public health interventions to reduce HIV transmission in vulnerable populations, facilitating the early diagnosis of acute HIV infections and preventing its further spread. He also researches bacterial sexually transmitted infections in high risk populations, and HIV-1 early treatment trials.

Misfolded proteins can either create the loss of a cellular function, or escape degradation, causing aggregation diseases. Dr John Christianson's research focusses on ER-associated degradation, which is responsible for clearing non-functional and orphan translation products. These processes play a central role in inherited diseases such a cystic fibrosis and various forms of cancer. Dr Christianson's long term goal is to identify novel points of interventions for cancer therapies. Creative...

Chorea-Acanthocytosis: ChAc is a rare progressive neurological disorder caused by mutations in a very complex gene. Dr Antonio Velayos-Baeza is interested in two main projects: Chorea-acanthocytosis (ChAc), a rare autosomal-recessive disorder that is characterised by progressive neurodegeneration and red cell acanthocytosis (spiky red blood cells), and Developmental dyslexia, the most common of the childhood learning disorders. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK:...

Professor Robert Gilbert's research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying membrane pore formation and cell adhesion. Switching mechanisms within our cells are in part responsible for their development. MicroRNAs control a whole set of proteins associated with stem cell biology, particularly cancer stem cells. Targeting these components raises the potential for new anti-cancer therapeutics, which work by switching off protein production rather than inhibiting them later. Creative...

The main aim of Dr Xue's research is to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms mediating inflammatory diseases, and to translate their findings into therapeutic concepts to treat these diseases. Drugs and treatments for inflammatory diseases are scarce and often induce major side effects. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms governing inflammatory diseases would allow us to develop new drug and treatments, at great benefit for both patients and the NHS.

Resistance to drugs in bacteria can be aquired by swapping genes between individual bacteria. Computer programs developed by Dr Iqbal enable doctors to predict which antibiotics will be met with drug resistance, enabling the selection of the right drug. BIOINFORMATICS & PATHOGEN GENOMICS Dr Zamin Iqbal studies the DNA of bacteria and parasites, and compares the genomes of individual pathogens to track the spread of antibiotic resistance. Pathogens accumulate small genetic changes over...

Computational and stastistical methods help us understand evolution as well as genetic disease. Professor Gerton Lunter is interested in investigating the processes of evolution and biology using computational methods. His focus is on sequencing data; Professor Lunter develops methods to investigate evolutionary questions in population genetics. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Melioidosis is a neglected tropical disease, and a major infectious killer in South East Asia. Melioidosis particularly affects people with diabetes. Dr Susanna Dunachie works on tropical diseases such as melioidosis, scrub typhus and vivax malaria. Melioidosis is a bacterial disease that results in pneumonia, liver and splenic abscesses and septic shock. The disease can reactivate after a latent period and is inherently resistant to many standard antibiotics. People continue to die around...

Over 250 Institutions participate in the effort of sharing data on the efficacy of antimalarial drugs, which involves standardising and re-analysing data. Professor Philippe Guérin is Director of the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN). The best lines of defence against malaria are avoidance of mosquito bites and effective drug therapy. WWARN tracks the emergence of antimalarial drug resistance to ensure that anyone affected by malaria receives effective and safe drug treatment.

Artemisinins are very poweful tools in the treatment of malaria, and the emerging loss of their activity has the potential to create a major public health problem. MALARIA TREATMENT Dr Charlie Woodrow is based at MORU in Bangkok, Thailand, where he coordinates clinical and laboratory studies on resistance to artemisinins. Bringing together diverse datasets of clinical, in vitro and molecular data has helped better understand the emerging resistance, particularly in Myanmar. Creative Commons...

Identifying and addressing ethical issues are key to the success of any clinical trials, particularly when working with vulnerable populations. Dr Phaik Yeong Cheah leads the Department of Bioethics & Engagement at the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Thailand. She is particularly interested in ethical issues in community engagement, data sharing, consent and assent in paediatric research. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England...

In settings with high level of poverty and over-stretched health services, researchers have even greater responsibilities to the communities and study participants. SOCIAL AND BEHAVIOURAL RESEARCH A social scientist and public health researcher based in Kenya, Professor Vicki Marsh aims to understand and strenghten policies based on social and ethical aspects of international collaborations. Improving communications between researchers and the patients and local communities is not only...