Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Group

Antimal | A-WOL | Snake Venom Research | Staff | Students

Head of Group: Professor Mark Taylor
Secretary: Mrs Mary Creegan

The Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology group was formerly the Department of Parasitology and represents one of the oldest academic groupings in the School. The group comprises of about fifty staff, including eleven full-time academic staff and twenty three postdoctoral scientists. In addition to its research focus, the group also convenes MSc courses in the Biology and Control of Parasites and Disease Vectors, Molecular Biology of Parasites and Disease Vectors and a BSc Honours course in Tropical Disease Biology.

The group research strategy has been developed around pursuing internationally rated basic research into pathogens (principally parasites of human importance and also snake venoms) and translating this basic science information into “products”. We use the term product to define any group output with the potential to have impact in improving health in developing countries. In addition to the laboratory-based science taking place in Liverpool, the group has extensive scientific links with groups across the globe including major collaborations with scientists in disease-endemic countries in Africa, South East Asia and South America.

The group has major research interests in malaria, lymphatic filariasis, soil transmitted helminths, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis and snake venoms with an increasing focus on new chemotherapeutics and immunoparasitology. The group has research funding in excess of £20 million and is the co-ordinating centre for; AntiMal, a €17.5 million project funded by the European Union, comprising 31 groups from 11 countries collaborating to develop new drugs for malaria, and A-WOL, a $24 million programme funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop new drugs against Wolbachia endosymbionts of filarial nematodes.