Niroshini Nirmalan
University of Salford, UK
Keynote: Nat Prod Chem Res
Natural product leads have been the mainstay of antimalarial chemotherapy for centuries. Although the current frontline drug artemisinin (derived from Artemisia annua) continues to be a highly effective and affordable chemotherapeutic option, reports of fast spreading resistance make it highly likely that therapeutic failure is imminent. The lecture will provide an overview of the natural product options available for malaria and highlight the challenges involved in ensuring successful lead identification and optimisation. The lecture will also explore repositioning of natural product leads (i.e. screening of existing natural product �??based drugs for new diseases) as an alternate strategy to fast track antimalarial drug discovery. Aspects of research carried out on two natural product extracts, Bridellia ferugenia and Emetine (Carapichea ipecacuanha) will be presented.
Niroshini Nirmalan graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1991 and she was appointed as a Lecturer in Parasitology at the Faculty of Medicine Colombo. Niroshini Nirmalan completed her MSc in Molecular Parasitology at the University of Salford in 1995 and was awarded the Overseas Research student Award to do PhD. and done her postdoctoral training in Prof John Hyde’s laboratory at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) and went on to work as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocenter MIB, University of Manchester. Currently she is working in a role as Senior Lecturer at the University of Salford in April 2010..
Email: N.J.Nirmalan@salford.ac.uk
