معرفی
Belen Cassera is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Georgia. She is a member of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases and serves as the ILS Graduate Coordinator. Her research focuses on anti-parasitic drug discovery, particularly targeting malaria caused by Plasmodium species. She employs multidisciplinary approaches combining biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, and molecular biology to develop novel therapeutics and understand drug resistance mechanisms.
Dr. Cassera has received significant funding, including a $3.7M NIH grant for assessing new malaria drug candidates and recognition in UGA's Innovation District initiative. Her work spans over 90 publications, with a focus on metabolomics, antimalarial natural products, and enzyme inhibitors targeting critical parasite pathways. She collaborates extensively on projects involving drug discovery from plants and marine organisms, as well as studies on metabolic pathways in Plasmodium and Trypanosoma.
Labs/Teams: Leads research teams in drug discovery and metabolic pathway analysis, collaborating with institutions globally on malaria and tropical disease research initiatives.
