The malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, has developed resistance to most of the available antimalarial drugs currently in use. Recent report indicates that, elsewhere, the parasites have developed resistance even to the newly introduced artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT). Going forward, it is important to attempt to understand the mechanisms of resistance to the antimalarial drugs and then identify new drug targets as well as discover novel anti-plasmodia compounds. Concurrently, there is the need to monitor the efficacy of the ACT which are currently in use in most disease endemic areas. Our group is engaged in multiple studies purposely to address some of these issues including identifying the factors and variation in the parasite that affect its susceptibility to antimalarial drugs. These are being pursued through:

• Interrogation of the unique metabolic pathways (eg. Purine transport system) of the parasite in order to identify novel antimalarial drug targets.

• Using CRISPR Cas 9 gene editing techniques to identify molecular markers of antimalarial drug resistance and drug target discovery.
• Monitoring resistance to antimalarial drugs using WHO recommended standardized methods.

Our research has led to the discovery of novel purine transport pathways in Plasmodium falciparum. We have also generated data from field activities on the efficacy of antimalarial drugs in Ghana. Previously, we introduced the use of SYBR Green method in Ghana which offered a cheap and reliable means of evaluating the outcome of in vitro drug test. Together with external collaborators, we developed the ‘In Vitro Analysis and Reporting Tool (IVART)’ which removes the subjectivity from in vitro malaria drug sensitivity assay analysis among others.