Interplay of phosphorylation and ubiquitination regulating Leishmania differentiation

Leishmaniasis is a severe insect-transmitted disease of humans that remains one of the world's most neglected diseases. There is currently no clinically effective vaccine against the disease and chemotherapy, the prime means for reducing the leishmaniasis burden, has limitations. We aim is to characterise important biological processes by which the Leishmania parasite changes as it establishes an infection in a mammal. We know that enzymes that modify proteins once they are made in the cell (post translational modifications), are important in the infectivity and pathogenicity of the parasite - protein kinases and ubiquitination enzymes. A key approach will therefore be to investigate what role they play in the parasite's infectivity and virulence. Overall, we expect the outcome from this study to be a greatly improved understanding of how Leishmania lives and therefore how best to develop new therapies to cure the disease caused by the parasite.