Igor Almeida, (right), professor of biological sciences at The University of Texas at El Paso, is the principal investigator of a new five-year grant worth $5,713,730 from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“We are, of course, very excited and grateful to receive this highly competitive award from NIH,” Almeida said. “Developing new therapeutic approaches for Chagas disease is something we have been working on for some time. This grant will allow us to move forward with those efforts with the hope of ultimately improving the efficacy and safety of treatment that can change the course of Chagas disease treatment worldwide.”
Almeida is working with Katja Michael, left, associate professor of chemistry and one of the grant’s co-PIs, and several other investigators from the U.S., Bolivia, and Spain to find a fully effective drug for Chagas.
Chagas is a potentially life-threatening disease transmitted to animals and people by insects known as kissing bugs, and by blood transfusion, organ transplant, and by contaminated foods and juices.
The disease has been endemic to Latin America, affecting 6 million to 7 million people, but it is rapidly spreading through the United States, Europe, and other regions.
Although there have been several experimental efforts throughout the years, the drugs for Chagas disease are toxic and have low efficacy in the treatment of chronic infection.
Almeida, Michael and colleagues hope to improve their safety and efficacy by testing new regimens and biomarkers that will provide a more efficient measure of disease state and treatment outcomes.
They will conduct a phase II clinical trial in Bolivia with new regimens of the drugs benznidazole and nifurtimox, and new biomarkers for the chemotherapy follow-up. This is the first clinical trial with UTEP as the leading institution.
Almeida began work on Chagas disease 28 years ago. In recent years, he began collaborating with Michael to further develop new therapeutic approaches and diagnostic tools, based on synthetic parasite sugars.
“We look forward to furthering our work on this potentially life-saving venture,” Michael said. “This is a testament to the quality of research that is conducted here at UTEP. We are grateful to be able to continue our work and offer students a chance to take part in research that could impact the world.”
Robert Kirken, UTEP College of Science dean said the grant was an important validation of the work being conducted in the College of Science and at The University of Texas at El Paso.
“This grant was awarded based on the merits of the science, of the work being conducted by Dr. Almeida and Dr. Michael to combat one of the world’s most widespread parasitic infections that has been targeted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for public health action.”
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