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Dr Amanda Fortes Francisco

BSc MSc PhD

Assistant Professor

Room
329a

LSHTM
Keppel Street
London
WC1E 7HT
United Kingdom

Tel.
+44 207 612 7864

I obtained a BSc in Nutrition and an MSc and PhD in Biological Sciences, both from the Federal University of Ouro Preto in Brazil. In 2012 I was awarded a scholarship from The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development to work on the Trypanosoma cruzi heart pathology in John Kelly' lab at LSHTM where I undertook this post-doctoral work for 2 years. In 2014 I started to work at LSHTM funded by Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). DNDi is a non-profit research and development organization that is developing new treatments for neglected diseases. Currently, I am working with drug discovery for DNDi, GSK, Novartis and others using the bioluminescence in vivo image system for T. cruzi/T. brucei and on the pathogenesis of Chronic Chagasic Cardiomyopathy (CCC).

Affiliations

Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases
Department of Infection Biology

Teaching

Learning tutor on Parasitology Module IDM203, Infectious Diseases MSc.

Supervision of MSc and PhD projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research

The major pathology of Chagas disease is heart damage including cardiomyopathy, cardiac inflammation and fibrosis. The use of a new non-invasive tecnology as the electrocardiogram (ECG) will complement our current experiments by providing clinical data on heart function, which can be mapped onto the bioluminescent data we have on the infection kinetics. It can also be used to look at changes in heart parameters of infected mice undergoing treatment with novel drug candidates. 

Exploit in vivo imaging technology to study Chagas' disease pathogenesis and assess drug effectiveness in collaboration with DNDi, GSK, Novartis and others.

You can find more about me using the links below:

https://www.londonntd.org/research/researchers/dr-amanda-francisco

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dr_Amanda_Francisco 

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3475-8130

 

 

 

 

 

Research Area
Drug discovery and development
Parasites
Public health
Trypanosomes
Chemotherapy
Pharmacokinetics
Protozoa
Discipline
Molecular biology
Parasitology
Pathology
Disease and Health Conditions
Cardiovascular disease
Chronic disease
Infectious disease
African trypanosomiasis
Chagas Disease
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
Human African trypanosomiasis
Region
Latin America & Caribbean (developing only)
Latin America & Caribbean (all income levels)
World

Selected Publications

Nitroimidazopyrazinones with Oral Activity against Tuberculosis and Chagas Disease in Mouse Models of Infection.
Ang CW; Lee BM; Jackson CJ; Wang Y; Franzblau SG; Francisco AF; Kelly JM; Bernhardt PV; Tan L; West NP
2022
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
Comparing in vivo bioluminescence imaging and the Multi-Cruzi immunoassay platform to develop improved Chagas disease diagnostic procedures and biomarkers for monitoring parasitological cure
Francisco AF; Saade U; Jayawardhana S; Pottel H; Scandale I; Chatelain E; Liehl P; Kelly JM; Zrein M
2022
PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Invariant surface glycoprotein 65 of Trypanosoma brucei is a complement C3 receptor.
Macleod OJS; Cook AD; Webb H; Crow M; Burns R; Redpath M; Seisenberger S; Trevor CE; Peacock L; Schwede A
2022
Nature Communications
Image-Based In Vitro Screening Reveals the Trypanostatic Activity of Hydroxymethylnitrofurazone against Trypanosoma cruzi.
Scarim CB; Olmo F; Ferreira EI; Chin CM; Kelly JM; Fortes Francisco A
2021
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Challenges in Chagas Disease Drug Development.
Francisco AF; Jayawardhana S; Olmo F; Lewis MD; Wilkinson SR; Taylor MC; Kelly JM
2020
MOLECULES
Drug-cured experimental Trypanosoma cruzi infections confer long-lasting and cross-strain protection.
Mann GS; Francisco AF; Jayawardhana S; Taylor MC; Lewis MD; Olmo F; de Freitas EO; Leoratti FMS; López-Camacho C; Reyes-Sandoval A
2020
PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Intracellular DNA replication and differentiation of Trypanosoma cruzi is asynchronous within individual host cells in vivo at all stages of infection.
Taylor MC; Ward A; Olmo F; Jayawardhana S; Francisco AF; Lewis MD; Kelly JM
2020
PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Re-evaluating pretomanid analogues for Chagas disease: Hit-to-lead studies reveal both in vitro and in vivo trypanocidal efficacy.
Thompson AM; O'Connor PD; Marshall AJ; Francisco AF; Kelly JM; Riley J; Read KD; Perez CJ; Cornwall S; Thompson RCA
2020
European journal of medicinal chemistry
Assessing the Effectiveness of Curative Benznidazole Treatment in Preventing Chronic Cardiac Pathology in Experimental Models of Chagas Disease.
Francisco AF; Jayawardhana S; Taylor MC; Lewis MD; Kelly JM
2018
Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
Biological factors that impinge on Chagas disease drug development.
Francisco AF; Jayawardhana S; Lewis MD; Taylor MC; Kelly JM
2017
Parasitology
Nitroheterocyclic drugs cure experimental Trypanosoma cruzi infections more effectively in the chronic stage than in the acute stage.
Francisco AF; Jayawardhana S; Lewis MD; White KL; Shackleford DM; Chen G; Saunders J; Osuna-Cabello M; Read KD; Charman SA
2016
Scientific reports
Limited Ability of Posaconazole To Cure both Acute and Chronic Trypanosoma cruzi Infections Revealed by Highly Sensitive In Vivo Imaging.
Francisco AF; Lewis MD; Jayawardhana S; Taylor MC; Chatelain E; Kelly JM
2015
Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
See more Publications