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Toronto, Canada, May 25, 2005: Malaria is the most important parasitic infection in the world
accounting for over 500 million new infections and 1 million deaths each year.
New effective interventions to prevent and treat malaria are urgently needed.
In an important and unique research partnership between Toronto clinicians and leading scientists,
The McLaughlin-Rotman Centre (MRC) at University Health Network-Toronto General Hospital,
and the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) at the University of Toronto announced today that
they had worked together to solve the structure of 8 malaria-related proteins which may aid
in the discovery of new drugs for this devastating illness.
SGC and the McLaughlin-Rotman Center have delivered its first 8 malaria-related protein structures
into the public domain today.
The SGC and MRC will together solve over 50 such structures over the next two years
in a high throughput approach to structural biology.
The new data generated through this collaboration will expedite the development
of new and effective medicines and provide tools for researchers to study this important disease.
Advancements in Malaria research are a focus area of the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre (MRC) - a program within the McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine (MCMM). The MRC is working to find "molecular solutions for global infections". MCMM was founded with a $50 million dollar endowment to the University of Toronto and has distinct partnerships with the research institutes of the University Health Network; Hospital for Sick Children; Mount Sinai Hospital; and Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre. The McLaughlin-Rotman Centre evolved through an additional generous donation from Mrs Sandra Rotman to create a centre, housed at University Health Network, which will be recognized as a leader in the application of molecular discovery to infectious diseases of global significance. Collaboration with the structural biology expertise from SGC coupled with the clinical expertise in Malaria from McLaughlin-Rotman Center, demonstrates the MCMM philosophy which capitalizes on convergence and integration of Toronto's leading scientists and clinicians with the intent to translate advances in scientific research into new biotechnology and other health products. "This represents an exciting time for the collaboration between SGC and the McLaughlin-Rotman Center and for the interface between biomedical research and global health. This collaboration is applying revolutionary advances in structural genomics to enormous health problems such as malaria with the ultimate goal of identifying new drug targets and novel interventions for this major cause of global morbidity and mortality." Kevin C. Kain, Director, McLaughlin-Rotman Center, MCMM. "Unlike many other diseases, there is a lack of knowledge about which malaria related proteins are the most important drug targets. This is why a genomic approach such as ours, will lend understanding to the field", Raymond Hui, Principal Investigator of Malaria at SGC. The SGC is an Anglo-Canadian charitable company with a three-year mandate to place 350 three-dimensional structures of proteins of relevance to human health into the public domain without restriction on use. The consortium's goal is to encourage the development of new and improved drugs and other healthcare products; it is the only public-private partnership worldwide to undertake such a targeted programme of research. The SGC operates from their laboratories at the Universities of Toronto and Oxford and the European Bioinformatics Institute and is supported by investment from Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Genome Canada through the Ontario Genomics Institute, GlaxoSmithKline, the Ontario Innovation Trust, the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund and the Wellcome Trust. Contact information: Keith Stewart
Kevin Kain
Cheryl Arrowsmith,Chief Scientist or Raymond Hui, Principal Investigator of Malarial Program
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