American Trypanosoma and Leishmania are the causative agents of two of 17 Neglected Tropical Diseases

a collection of infections characterized by a lack of control measures and major impacts on developing nations. These insect vector borne protozoa are the cause of Chagas Disease and leishmaniasis respectively. Despite recent efforts in areas such as vector control, cases of Chagas Disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and leishmaniasis, caused by Leishmania spp, remain high - up to 7M infected and 1.7M new cases per year respectively. There is an urgent need to identify and validate new drug targets and this is what the current project aims to do.