Sanjeev Krishna

Last updated

Sanjeev Krishna, FMedSci , is a British physician and parasitologist whose research focuses on affordable diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, Ebola, African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, and colorectal cancer. Krishna is Professor of Medicine and Molecular Parasitology at St George's, University of London and St George's Hospital.

Contents

Early life and education

Sanjeev Krishna was born in Tanzania and attended a primary school run by English Catholic nuns. He expressed interest in medicine from an early age. His family operated a clinic where Krishna was first introduced to medicine. In 1969, at 11 years old, he went to boarding school at King's College in Taunton, England. [1] [2] In 1976, he won a scholarship to Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, to read Natural Sciences. [2] He then completed his medical degree from University of Oxford in 1982. [2] [3] Krishna later earned his Doctor of Science degree from the University of Cambridge in 2007. [2] [4]

Career and research

After completing his postgraduate medical training, in 1985, Krishna began research towards a DPhil at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford as a training fellow funded by the Medical Research Council. [2] [4] In 1994, he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship in Clinical Science at St George's, University of London. [4] [5] He was later appointed Professor of Molecular Parasitology and Medicine at St George's, University of London and St George's Hospital. [4] [6]

Krishna has been studying malaria since the early 1980s. [7] He has also studied a number of other infectious diseases including African trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis. [8] Krishna has made significant contributions to the understanding of membrane transporters in Plasmodium falciparum , a parasite that causes malaria, and identifying them as targets for pharmaceuticals. He pinpointed an inhibitor with efficacy in killing P. falciparum in cultures and animal models by targeting a hexose transporter his group was able to identify, clone, and study. [1] In 2001, Krishna et al. also identified a P-type ATPase (PfATP4) in P. falciparum as a target for new drugs. [9] [10]

Krishna was a lead professor on the St George's University of London's Nanomal Project which began in 2012 to develop a point-of-care, affordable diagnostic device used to detect malaria infection and assay the drug resistance of the parasites. [11] In 2015, Krishna and his team launched a crowd-funded study at St George's University of London [12] [13] looking at the efficacy of artesunate, an antimalarial drug, as a treatment for colorectal cancer. [7] [14] He also contributed to the development of vaccines for Ebola which were shown to be safe and effective in clinical trials by 2017, following the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people. [3] [15]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, St George's Hospital shifted all its research to focus on COVID-19 with Krishna and his colleague Tim Planche leading a diagnostics project. [16] He was also involved in a study on how some people exposed to COVID-19 develop antibodies to the virus that causes the disease for almost two months after they are diagnosed. [17] [18] The study co-authored by Krishna found that between 2% and 8.5% of COVID-19 patients in the study did not test positive for COVID-19 antibodies. [19]

Memberships and honours

In 2004, Krishna was inducted a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He serves or has served on advisory committees of the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, and as an advisor to the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics. [4] Krishna also serves on the Guidelines Development Group for malaria chemotherapy at the WHO Global Malaria Programme. [20]

Personal life

In 1999, Krishna married his wife Yasmin, who initially worked in finance and later became a teacher. They have a son Karim, born in 2000. [1]

Krishna is an avid amateur squash player. [1]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malaria</span> Medical condition

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. Symptoms usually begin ten to fifteen days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. If not properly treated, people may have recurrences of the disease months later. In those who have recently survived an infection, reinfection usually causes milder symptoms. This partial resistance disappears over months to years if the person has no continuing exposure to malaria.

<i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> Protozoan species of malaria parasite

Plasmodium falciparum is a unicellular protozoan parasite of humans, and the deadliest species of Plasmodium that causes malaria in humans. The parasite is transmitted through the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito and causes the disease's most dangerous form, falciparum malaria. It is responsible for around 50% of all malaria cases. P. falciparum is therefore regarded as the deadliest parasite in humans. It is also associated with the development of blood cancer and is classified as a Group 2A (probable) carcinogen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artemisinin</span> Group of drugs used against malaria

Artemisinin and its semisynthetic derivatives are a group of drugs used in the treatment of malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum. It was discovered in 1972 by Tu Youyou, who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery. Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are now standard treatment worldwide for P. falciparum malaria as well as malaria due to other species of Plasmodium. Artemisinin is extracted from the plant Artemisia annua, sweet wormwood, a herb employed in Chinese traditional medicine. A precursor compound can be produced using a genetically engineered yeast, which is much more efficient than using the plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artemether</span>

Artemether is a medication used for the treatment of malaria. The injectable form is specifically used for severe malaria rather than quinine. In adults, it may not be as effective as artesunate. It is given by injection in a muscle. It is also available by mouth in combination with lumefantrine, known as artemether/lumefantrine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artesunate</span>

Artesunate (AS) is a medication used to treat malaria. The intravenous form is preferred to quinine for severe malaria. Often it is used as part of combination therapy, such as artesunate plus mefloquine. It is not used for the prevention of malaria. Artesunate can be given by injection into a vein, injection into a muscle, by mouth, and by rectum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph DeRisi</span> American biochemist

Joseph Lyman DeRisi is an American biochemist, specializing in molecular biology, parasitology, genomics, virology, and computational biology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dihydroartemisinin</span> Drug used to treat malaria

Dihydroartemisinin is a drug used to treat malaria. Dihydroartemisinin is the active metabolite of all artemisinin compounds and is also available as a drug in itself. It is a semi-synthetic derivative of artemisinin and is widely used as an intermediate in the preparation of other artemisinin-derived antimalarial drugs. It is sold commercially in combination with piperaquine and has been shown to be equivalent to artemether/lumefantrine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artelinic acid</span> Chemical compound

Artelinic acid is an experimental drug that is being investigated as a treatment for malaria. It is a semi-synthetic derivative of the natural compound artemisinin. Artelinic acid has a lower rate of neurotoxicity than the related artemisinin derivatives arteether and artemether, but is three times more toxic than artesunate. At present, artelinic acid seems unlikely to enter routine clinical use, because it offers no clear benefits over the artemesinins already available. Artelinic acid has not yet been evaluated for use in humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amodiaquine</span>

Amodiaquine (ADQ) is a medication used to treat malaria, including Plasmodium falciparum malaria when uncomplicated. It is recommended to be given with artesunate to reduce the risk of resistance. Due to the risk of rare but serious side effects, it is not generally recommended to prevent malaria. Though, the WHO in 2013 recommended use for seasonal preventive in children at high risk in combination with sulfadoxine and pyrimethamine.

Artesunate/amodiaquine, sold under the trade name Camoquin among others, is a medication used for the treatment of malaria. It is a fixed-dose combination of artesunate and amodiaquine. Specifically it recommended for acute uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. It is taken by mouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of malaria</span> History of malaria infections

The history of malaria extendes from its prehistoric origin as a zoonotic disease in the primates of Africa through to the 21st century. A widespread and potentially lethal human infectious disease, at its peak malaria infested every continent except Antarctica. Its prevention and treatment have been targeted in science and medicine for hundreds of years. Since the discovery of the Plasmodium parasites which cause it, research attention has focused on their biology as well as that of the mosquitoes which transmit the parasites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyronaridine</span>

Pyronaridine is an antimalarial drug. It was first made in 1970 and has been in clinical use in China since the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piperaquine</span> Chemical compound

Piperaquine is an antiparasitic drug used in combination with dihydroartemisinin to treat malaria. Piperaquine was developed under the Chinese National Malaria Elimination Programme in the 1960s and was adopted throughout China as a replacement for the structurally similar antimalarial drug chloroquine. Due to widespread parasite resistance to piperaquine, the drug fell out of use as a monotherapy, and is instead used as a partner drug for artemisinin combination therapy. Piperaquine kills parasites by disrupting the detoxification of host heme.

Project 523 is a code name for a 1967 secret military project of the People's Republic of China to find antimalarial medications. Named after the date the project launched, 23 May, it addressed malaria, an important threat in the Vietnam War. At the behest of Ho Chi Minh, Prime Minister of North Vietnam, Zhou Enlai, the Premier of the People's Republic of China, convinced Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist Party of China, to start the mass project "to keep [the] allies' troops combat-ready", as the meeting minutes put it. More than 500 Chinese scientists were recruited. The project was divided into three streams. The one for investigating traditional Chinese medicine discovered and led to the development of a class of new antimalarial drugs called artemisinins. Launched during and lasting throughout the Cultural Revolution, Project 523 was officially terminated in 1981.

Artesunate/pyronaridine, sold under the brand name Pyramax, is a fixed-dose combination medication for the treatment of malaria. It can be used for malaria of both the P. falciparum and P. vivax types. It combines artesunate and pyronaridine. It is taken by mouth.

Peter Gottfried Kremsner is a specialist in tropical medicine and Full Professor at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Since 1992 he has been leading the Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné (CERMEL), Gabon, now as president.

Wai-Hong Tham is a Malaysian professor at the University of Melbourne and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), and joint head of the division of Infectious Disease and Immune Defense. She researches the molecular biology of the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax.

Lyda Elena Osorio Amaya is a Colombian physician, epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist. She is an associate professor at the Universidad del Valle, and a researcher at the Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Médicas (CIDEIM) in Cali, Valle del Cauca. Osorio's research has focused mainly on vector-borne diseases like malaria, leishmaniasis, Zika and dengue fever. She has also played a role in Colombia's response against COVID-19.

Elizabeth Ashley is a British physician who is Director of the Laos-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit (LOMWRU) in Laos. She specialises in infectious diseases and medical microbiology and virology. She is an associate editor for the Malaria Journal and serves on the Council of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.

David A. Fidock, is the CS Hamish Young Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Professor of Medical Sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in Manhattan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Professor Sanjeev Krishna, FMedSci". The Academy of Medical Sciences. 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Sanjeev Krishna: Biography". ORCID. 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. 1 2 Withers, Iain (1 February 2018). "How prepared are we for the next Ebola-scale epidemic?". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Sanjeev Krishna, Group Leader, Biography". St George's, University of London. Retrieved 3 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ Vaughan, Claire; Allen, Liz; Chew, Michael (April 2012). "Annex C: Wellcome Trust funding for malaria" (PDF). Portfolio Review: Malaria (1990–2009). Wellcome Trust: 72.
  6. ↑ Bayley, Sian (22 May 2020). "London experts still 'several months' away from knowing if Covid vaccine works". MyLondon. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  7. 1 2 Wood, Ruth (1 June 2017). "70p antimalarial drug could treat bowel cancer". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  8. ↑ Radford, Tim (15 July 2005). "Scientists decipher DNA of diseases that threaten 500 m of world's poor". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ↑ Wells, Timothy N. C.; Van Huijsduijnen, Rob Hooft; Van Voorhis, Wesley C. (June 2015). "Malaria medicines: a glass half full?" (PDF). Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 14 (6): 435, 440. doi:10.1038/nrd4573. ISSN   1474-1776. PMID   26000721. S2CID   26525303.
  10. ↑ Krishna, Sanjeev; Woodrow, Charles; Webb, Richard; Penny, Jeff; Takeyasu, Kunio; Kimura, Masatsugu; East, J. Malcolm (6 April 2001). "Expression and Functional Characterization of a Plasmodium falciparum Ca2+-ATPase (PfATP4) Belonging to a Subclass Unique to Apicomplexan Organisms *". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 276 (14): 10782–10787. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M010554200 . ISSN   0021-9258. PMID   11145964.
  11. ↑ "Nanomal smartphone-like malaria detection device to be field tested one year earlier than scheduled". Medical Xpress. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ↑ White, Victoria (16 October 2015). "Crowdfunding bid to test malaria drug artesunate in cancer". European Pharmaceutical Review. Retrieved 3 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ Clarence-Smith, Louisa (9 September 2015). "Patient funds 'revolutionary' bowel cancer research after hospital bed chat with his consultant". Sutton & Croydon Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ↑ "Campaign to fund bowel cancer trial". BBC News. 6 November 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  15. ↑ "Ebola vaccine found safe in humans trials". Outlook India. Press Trust of India. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  16. ↑ Ives, James (3 April 2020). "St George's, University of London focuses entire research on tackling coronavirus". News Medical. Retrieved 3 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ↑ "Why having Covid-19 might not lead to immunity". BBC News. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ↑ "COVID-19 immune response may remain stable for two months after diagnosis, scientists say". Outlook India. Press Trust of India. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  19. ↑ Read, Claire (15 June 2020). "Not all coronavirus patients develop Covid-19 antibodies, study finds". The Independent. Retrieved 3 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ↑ "Call for comments on malaria guideline development groups' members". World Health Organization. 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.