Aileen Boshoff
Senior Lecturer
Biotechnology
Rhodes University
South Africa
Biography
The research is focused on the study of molecular chaperones from parasitic systems. Our group has been isolating and characterising molecular chaperones from Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of human and animal African trypanosomiasis as well as from Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malaria. Molecular chaperones play a wide range of roles in the cell and they are required to assist both parasites as they move from a cold blooded insect vector to a warm blooded mammalian host. They also play an important role during differentiation of the parasites during different stages of development. Certain molecular chaperone proteins have been identified as essential to the survival of both parasites. The aim is to design small molecule inhibitors to this class of important proteins.
Research Interest
Molecular chaperones
Publications
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Burton SG, Boshoff A, Edwards W, Rose PD (1998) Biotransformation of phenols using immobilised polyphenol oxidase. J Mol Catalysis B: Enzymatic 5: 411-416.
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Matambo TS, Odunuga OO, Boshoff A, Blatch GL (2004) Overproduction, purification, and characterization of the Plasmodium falciparum heat shock protein 70. Protein expression and purification 33: 214-222.
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Shonhai A, Boshoff A, Blatch GL (2007) The structural and functional diversity of Hsp70 proteins from Plasmodium falciparum. Protein Sci 16: 1803-1818.
