Position

Head, Division of Infection & Immunity
NHMRC Australia Fellow

Contact

Division of Infection and Immunity
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
1G Royal Parade
Parkville VIC 3050

Tel: +61 3 9345 2446
Fax +61 3 9347 0852
Email: cowman@wehi.edu.au
www.wehi.edu.au/alan_cowman

Research interests

• Pathogenic protozoa
• Molecular basis of drug resistance in malaria
• Mechanisms of red cell invasion by the malaria parasite
• The mechanism of cytoadherence of malaria infected human red cells
• Parasite genome structure and plasticity and its role in pathogenesis

Qualifications

PhD, '83
BSc(Hons), '79

Ten Most Significant Publications

1. Foote SJ, Kyle DE, Martin RK, Oduola AMJ, Forsyth KP, Kemp DJ, and COWMAN AF. (1990) Several alleles of the multidrug-resistance gene are closely linked to chloroquine resistance in Plasmodium falciparum. Nature 345:255-258.

2. Crabb BS, Cooke BM, Reeder JC, Waller RF, Caruana SR, Davern KM, Wickham ME, Brown GV, Coppel RL, and COWMAN AF. (1997) Targeted gene disruption shows that knobs enable malaria-infected cells to cytoadhere under physiological shear stresses. Cell 89:287-296.

3. Reed MB, Saliba KJ, Caruana SR, Kirk K, and COWMAN AF. (2000) Pgh1 modulates sensitivity and resistance to multiple antimalarials in Plasmodium falciparum. Nature 403:906-909.

4. O'Donnell RA, Saul AJ, COWMAN AF, Crabb BS. (2000) Functional conservation of the malaria vaccine antigen P.falciparum MSP-119 across distantly related Plasmodium species. Nature Med. 6: 91-95

5. Marti M, Good RT, Rug M, Knuepfer E, and COWMAN AF. (2004) Targeting malaria virulence and remodelling proteins to the host erythrocyte. Science 306:1930-1933.

6. Maier AG, Duraisingh MT, Reeder JC, Patel SS, Kazura JW, Zimmerman PA, and COWMAN AF. (2003) Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte invasion through glycophorin C and selection for Gerbich negativity in human populations. Nat. Med. 9:87-92.

7. Duraisingh MT, Voss TS, Marty AJ, Duffy MF, Good RT, Thompson JK, Freitas-Junior LH, Scherf A, Crabb BS, and COWMAN AF. (2005) Heterochromatin silencing and locus repositioning linked to regulation of virulence genes in Plasmodium falciparum. Cell. 121:13-24.

8. Stubbs J, Simpson KM, Triglia T, Plouffe D, Tonkin CJ, Duraisingh MT, Maier AG, Winzeler EA, COWMAN AF. (2005) Molecular mechanism for switching of P. falciparum invasion pathways into human erythrocytes. Science. 309:1384-7

9. Voss TS, Healer J, Marty AJ, Duffy MF, Thompson JK, Beeson JG, Reeder JC, Crabb BS, and COWMAN AF. (2006) A var gene promoter controls allelic exclusion of virulence genes in Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Nature 439:1004-1008.

10. Maier AG, Rug M, O'Neill MT, Brown M, Chakravorty S, Szestak T, Chesson J, Wu Y, Hughes K, Coppel RL, Newbold C, Beeson JG, Craig A, Crabb BS, COWMAN AF. (2008). Exported Proteins Required for Virulence and Rigidity of Plasmodium falciparum-Infected Human Erythrocytes. Cell. 134(1):48-61.

Currently Held Grants

2002-08 066742/D/01/Z The Wellcome Trust UK Thematic Program Grant: Parasite-Host Interactions in Malaria Pathogenesis and Transmission. Co-Investigator with Newbold, Holder, Waters, Craig, Wilkinson, Baker, and Ivens.

2003-08 10535 and 13259 The Atlantic Philanthropies Incorporated: Strengthening Research Capacity in Parasitic Disease Surveillance and Control in Viet Nam. Collaborative project with The National Institute for Malariology, Entomology and Parasitology in Hanoi and the Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne. Principal Investigator with B. Biggs and Prof Le Khanh Thuan.

2005-08 356237 NHMRC Project Grant: Antibodies that inhibit erythrocyte invasion by P. falciparum and their role in protective immunity. Beeson (CIA) and Cowman (CIB).

2005-10 FNIH Grant #1481. Grand Challenges for Global Health: A Protective Genetically Attentuated P. falciparum Sporozoite Vaccine. Collaborating Investigators - Cowman, Duffy, Hepner, Kappe (CI), Krzych, Matuschewski.

2006-10 HHMI 55005499. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (USA) International Research Scholarship: Molecular mechanisms of merozoite invasion into erythrocytes. Sole Investigator.

2006-10 406601 NHMRC Program Grant: Host Parasite Interactions: Disease, Pathogenesis and Control. Chief Investigators - Cowman (CIA), Brown, Crabb, Handman, McConville, McFadden, Schofield and Speed).

2007-12 461298 NHMRC Australia Fellowship. CIA.