BPoD has moved!

BPoD has recently changed our domain name - we can now be found at bpod.org.uk

Please update your bookmarks!

Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Targeting Trypanosomes
21 July 2015

Targeting Trypanosomes

In sub-Saharan Africa, the parasite Trypanosoma brucei (pictured) threatens the lives of millions of people. It causes trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, and is transmitted through the bites of infected tsetse flies. The disease is fatal if untreated, but the existing drugs have serious side effects and often become ineffective because the parasites easily develop resistance: they mutate the transporter proteins that shuttle the drugs into the cell. Hope is on the horizon, however, in the form of targeted nanoparticles (seen dotted over the parasite’s surface). These nanoparticles carry the same drugs, but are coated with antibodies that target a conserved [less prone to mutation] parasite protein and prompt the drugs’ direct absorption. Not only were the nanoparticles able to kill an otherwise drug-resistant strain of T. brucei, but in a mouse model of trypanosomiasis they were 100-fold more efficient at clearing infection than the standard drug delivery method.

Written by Ruth Williams

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.