Conor Caffrey

Conor Caffrey (University of California,  San Francisco, CA, USA)

 Resume: Conor is an Associate Adjunct Professor at the Department of Pathology, UCSF and a senior scientist at the UCSF Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases (CDIPD). He obtained his Ph.D. in molecular and biochemical parasitology from University College Dublin, Ireland in 1994.  After post-doctoral experiences at Heidelberg University and UCSF, and a faculty position at Aberystwyth University in Wales, he joined the CDIPD in 2001.  His multi-disciplinary research, involving both academic and industrial partners, focuses on the discovery and translational development of drugs and diagnostics for parasitic (‘neglected’) diseases of poverty.

Targeting orthologous proteases for anti-parasite chemotherapy

Small molecule inhibitors of Clan CA cysteine proteases hold promise as therapy for a number of diseases caused by parasitic protozoa: one compound continues to progress pre-clinically for treatment of Chagas’ disease.  Cysteine inhibitors also possess anthelmintic activity, including against schistosomes and hookworms.  I’ll summarize our multi-disciplinary program to identify and develop Clan CA protease inhibitors to treat helminthiases, including the encouraging discovery of single, oral dose cure in an animal model of hookworm infection.  I’ll describe some of the avenues we’re pursuing with academic and industry partners to move inhibitors forward pre-clinically.