Keith Matthews receives 2023 Alice and C. C. Wang award in Molecular Parasitology
Many congratulations to Prof Keith Matthews, chair of Parasite Biology in the School of Biological Science, who has received the award for seminal contributions to the field.
The award will be presented at the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) annual symposium in Seattle next spring. Keith will also receive a $35000 research prize and plaque.
Keith's research focuses on understanding the biology of the African trypanosomes that cause Human and Animal African trypanosomiasis. Currently, human cases are declining but the livestock disease remains responsible for substantial economic hardship in sub-Saharan Africa. The threat of disease spread from animals to humans for certain trypanosome species also remains significant.
His current research programme – Quorum sensing in African trypanosomes – explores how trypanosomes prepare for transmission by the tsetse fly vector. The work explores the molecular mechanisms of developmental competence in laboratory and field isolates, and in different trypanosome species.
The ASMBM made two awards this year, with the other recipient being the eminent Professor Dyann Wirth at Harvard.