Daniel Youssef Bargieri

Life Sciences

Biologist Daniel Youssef Bargieri did his undergraduate studies at the Federal University of São Paulo and holds a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the same institution. From 2009 to 2014, he was a research assistant at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, where he also completed a post-doctoral fellowship. When he’s not in the lab, he’s often found at the Morumbi Stadium, cheering on the São Paulo soccer team.

Bargieri is dedicated to studying malaria. He has engineered a strain of Plasmodium berghei, the protozoan responsible for the disease, specifically for the study of gametocytes. His primary goal is to halt the spread of malaria, rather than merely treating its symptoms. Married to a fellow scientist, Bargieri enjoys spending his free time reading books at the beach. However, this task has proven challenging as his children often enlist his scientific expertise in their sand castle construction projects.

Lattes

Projects

Unearthing Novel Compounds with Malaria Transmission Blocking Activity
Science / Life Sciences

The quest for new malaria drugs has long beencentered on the parasite forms that proliferate in the blood and trigger the disease. However, gametocytes, the sexual forms that infect the mosquito vector during a bite, are also present in the blood of infected individuals. The few antimalarials that are currently available are not very effective against gametocytes. These forms do not multiply and are biochemically distinct from the proliferating forms. In essence, while treatment eradicates the Plasmodium forms that induce the disease, it does not inhibit transmission. The World Health Organization’s position is that identifying compounds that target the sexual forms, with the potential of blocking transmission, is crucial for eradicating malaria. Our project employs a novel parasite model that facilitates large-scale screening of these compounds.

Amount invested

1st phase: R$ 100,000.00
2nd phase: R$ 980,000.00 (R$ 700,000.00 + R$ 280,000.00 optional bonus for the integration and training of people from underrepresented groups in science)

Open Calls

Chamada 1
  • Topics
  • malaria
  • Plasmodium
  • Transmission