Drug Resistance in Leishmania Parasites

Alicia Ponte-Sucre studied Education in Biological Sciences at the Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas and became Magister Scientiarum in Physiology and Biophysics in 1981 at the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research and Doctor of Sciences in Pharmacology in 1993 at the UCV. She spent a year (1999-2000) at the University of Würzburg with a scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and was a staff scientist (2003-2007) at the same university, within a multidisciplinary project from the German Research Council. Currently she is Full Professor in Human Physiology and Coordinator for Scientific Affairs of the Faculty of Medicine, UCV. Initially, her studies were focused on the physical-chemical behavior of black lipid membranes. Later, her scientific activity was oriented towards the characterization of receptors involved in air-way smooth muscle contraction. During the last 30 years her interests have been focused towards the study of parasite metabolism and membrane transporters essential for parasite survival and involved in drug resistance, and the mechanisms involved in cellular differentiation and parasite-host interaction in Trypanosomatids, but especially in the Leishmania model. Additionally she has characterized natural products and target oriented designed compounds as potential therapeutic agents against diseases produced by these parasites.