Jennifer Lillian Small-Saunders, MD, PHD

Dr. Small-Saunders's lab applies gene-editing, mass spectrometry and deep sequencing techniques to understand epigenetic and epitranscriptomic mechanisms of drug resistance and stress responses in Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) parasites. Malaria, a mosquito-borne parasitic disease caused by Pf, remains a significant global health threat, with ~200 million cases and ~600,000 deaths annually, mainly in children under 5 years of age. Resistance to the first line antimalarial, artemisinin, has spread across Asia and has now arisen in Africa, imperiling malaria treatment and control. Despite the pressing need for novel therapeutic targets, the understanding of parasite biology lags behind most other pathogens and higher eukaryotes. Our lab has three main areas of focus. First, we study how tRNA modification reprogramming can alter the parasite’s quiescence and stress responses potentially linking nutrient availability and translation to enable rapid cellular adjustments to external stressors. Second, we seek to uncover new epigenetic and epitranscriptomic mechanisms that are critical to the parasite stress and quiescence responses. Our third area is the development of novel classes of epigenetic and epitranscriptomic inhibitors in Pf. Our work seeks to uncover new aspects of parasite gene regulation and RNA pathways in the parasite, which may allow for the development of novel antimalarials to combat one of the deadliest global diseases.

More information is available on the Small-Saunders Lab website