The Kyle Laboratory at the University of Georgia focuses on the discovery of new drugs to treat multi-drug resistant malaria and diseases caused by pathogenic free-living amoebae. We also study the mechanisms these parasites use to avoid the action of drugs and use this knowledge to enhance our drug discovery efforts. FInally, we are working on understanding and characterizing the mechanisms the malaria parasite uses to become dormant in various stages of its life cycle. Some of the current projects in the lab are: Discovery of drugs that target the dormant liver stage of Plasmodim vivax known as hypnozoites Discovery of drugs that overcome multi-drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum Elucidating the mechanisms of dormancy in different life cycle stages of Plasmodium sp. Developing P. cynomolgi as a model organism for the study of vivax malaria Discovery of new drugs to treat the nearly incurable disease caused by Naegleria fowleri, the "brain-eating" amoeba Optimizing drugs that target both growing (trophozoite) and dormant (cyst) stages of Acanthamoeba sp. Elucidating life cycles of fish blood flukes
