James Beeson
Deputy Director (People); Head of Malaria Research
Life Sciences
Burnet Institute
Australia
Biography
An ARC and NHMRC research fellow, and a public health physician, Professor Beeson completed his medical degree at Monash University in 1992. Based at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research with field work at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital and Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Program, Malawi his thesis titled ‘Mechanisms of placental infection by Plasmodium falciparum,’ commenced in February 1997 and passed in January 2001 through the University of Melbourne.
Research Interest
His research group primarily focuses on understanding how malaria causes disease in people and how immunity to malaria develops, and on the development of interventions to reduce malaria such as vaccines or public health programs. Their research currently involves clinical and population studies in Papua New Guinea, Africa and Asia. With a particular interest in the affects of malaria in pregnancy, and maternal health more broadly, Professor Beeson completed his PhD thesis on malaria in pregnancy, which included studies in Malawi, Central Africa.
Publications
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Identification of heparin modifications and polysaccharide inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum merozoite invasion that have potential for novel drug development. Boyle MJ, Skidmore M, Dickerman B, Cooper L, Devlin A, Yates E, Horrocks P, Freeman C, Chai W, Beeson JG Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2017 Oct; 61(11): e00709-17
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Impaired placental autophagy in placental malaria. Dimasuay KG, Gong L, Rosario F, McBryde E, Spelman T, Glazier J, Rogerson SJ, Beeson JG, Jansson T, Devenish RJ, Boeuf P PLoS One. 2017 Nov; 12(11):e0187291
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Functional conservation of the AMA1 host-cell invasion ligand between P. falciparum and P. vivax: a novel platform to accelerate vaccine and drug development. Drew DR, Sanders PR, Weiss G, Gilson PR, Crabb BS, Beeson JG J Infect Dis. 2017 Nov; Epub ahead of print
