Geoffrey McFadden studied at the University of Melbourne, making two trips to Antarctica to study sea ice algae while completing a PhD at the Botany School. He then took up a three-year postdoctoral position in algal cell biology in Muenster, Germany. Geoff returned to Australia on a prestigious QEII Fellowship to join Professor Adrienne Clarke’s Plant Cell Biology Research Centre where he worked on the molecular biology of barley and tobacco. He subsequently received an ARC Senior Research Fellowship, then a Professorial Research Fellowship to investigate the origin of chloroplasts by endosymbiosis. In 1995, Geoff took up a post as guest scientist at the Institute for Marine Biosciences in Halifax Canada. Geoff currently holds the Australian Research Council’s premier post of Federation Fellow at the School of Botany, in the University of Melbourne. He has received numerous awards including the Academy’s Frederick White Prize in 1998.
Malaria is a major global health problem. The World Health Organization estimates that 500 million are infected and 1 million people die each year. There is currently no vaccine and the parasite is now resistant to most existing drugs. Our research has recently revealed that the malaria parasite was originally a plant-like organism that survived by photosynthesis. We have found major genetic traces of a plant-like metabolism in malaria parasites. This tells us that the parasite moved from its life in the ocean as a unicellular plant to a new parasitic lifestyle in human blood. Importantly, this revelation has offered us new ways to combat the disease using drugs and herbicides initially designed to kill plants. We have found that these herbicidal compounds, some of which are non-toxic to humans, work against malaria too.
Event Manager: Mitchell Piercey
Phone: (02) 6201 9462
Geoffrey McFadden studied at the University of Melbourne, making two trips to Antarctica to study sea ice algae while completing a PhD at the Botany School. He then took up a three-year postdoctoral position in algal cell biology in Muenster, Germany. Geoff returned to Australia on a prestigious QEII Fellowship to join Professor Adrienne Clarke’s Plant Cell Biology Research Centre where he worked on the molecular biology of barley and tobacco. He subsequently received an ARC Senior Research Fellowship, then a Professorial Research Fellowship to investigate the origin of chloroplasts by endosymbiosis. In 1995, Geoff took up a post as guest scientist at the Institute for Marine Biosciences in Halifax Canada. Geoff currently holds the Australian Research Council’s premier post of Federation Fellow at the School of Botany, in the University of Melbourne. He has received numerous awards including the Academy’s Frederick White Prize in 1998.
Malaria is a major global health problem. The World Health Organization estimates that 500 million are infected and 1 million people die each year. There is currently no vaccine and the parasite is now resistant to most existing drugs. Our research has recently revealed that the malaria parasite was originally a plant-like organism that survived by photosynthesis. We have found major genetic traces of a plant-like metabolism in malaria parasites. This tells us that the parasite moved from its life in the ocean as a unicellular plant to a new parasitic lifestyle in human blood. Importantly, this revelation has offered us new ways to combat the disease using drugs and herbicides initially designed to kill plants. We have found that these herbicidal compounds, some of which are non-toxic to humans, work against malaria too.
Shine Dome,9 Gordon Street Australian Capital Territory false DD/MM/YYYYEvent Manager: Mitchell Piercey
Phone: (02) 6201 9462
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