Phillips turns parasite鈥檚 metabolic weakness into hope for human health
Much like the parasitic life cycle we learn in microbiology classes, the 91亚色传媒's 2024 Herbert Tabor Research Award also comes to a full circle.
The winner, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, studies which biochemical pathways are critical for parasitic protozoans to grow and survive and how to use this information to fight them.
“A substantial part of Dr. Phillips' work has been on the synthesis and function of polyamines, a field pioneered by Herbert and Celia Tabor,” Anthony Pegg of Pennsylvania State University noted when supporting Phillips’ nomination for the award.
Phillips said that her father, a radiation oncologist, greatly influenced her career choice: “My father loved basic science research and always encouraged my siblings and me to go into science. I ultimately decided to orient myself toward biochemistry because it combined my two passions, biology and chemistry. I wanted to know everything about enzymes and study how they were regulated.”
After earning her bachelor’s at the University of California, Davis, Phillips worked for two years at a company developing diagnostic kits to measure drug levels in biological fluids. “This was a great experience and made me realize that, if I wanted to lead my research agenda, I needed to get a Ph.D. Having this gap to think and reflect … was very positive for me; my motivation and focus were higher than if I had just kept going through school without a pause,” she added.
She went on to earn her Ph.D. at the University of California, San Francisco, where she also completed postdoctoral training. She started her lab at UTSW in 1992.
Phillips said she enjoys that her research sits at the intersection of parasitology, biochemistry and chemistry and that it can make a tangible impact on people’s lives. “The most fun I had was getting an anti-malaria compound into clinical development. To see your science going from understanding enzyme structure to finding inhibitors to clinical trials is very rewarding,” she said.
Fighting parasites one enzyme at a time
Together, Trypanosome brucei (responsible for African trypanosomiasis) and Plasmodium falciparum (the causative agent of malaria) affect over 2 billion people worldwide. Research led by Phillips on the structure and function of critical enzymes in these parasites has paved the way for new treatments.
“By exploiting metabolic vulnerabilities of these parasites, Meg made high-impact discoveries on novel drug targets resulting in innovative chemical therapies,” Kim Orth of UTSW and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute explained in her letter nominating Phillips for the Tabor award.
Phillips’ work on the regulatory mechanism of polyamine pathway enzymes S-adenosyl methionine decarboxylase and deoxyhypusine synthetase in T. brucei has been groundbreaking. “She found that both enzymes require oligomerization with inactive paralogs — pseudeoenzymes — for activity, revealing a trypanosomatid-specific form of enzyme regulation,” Orth explained.
Michael Ferguson of the University of Dundee said Phillips’ work “is the stuff of legend … Everyone should read it for sheer enjoyment.”
Phillips’ team has led the effort to target dihydroorotate dehydrogenase, a critical enzyme for pyrimidine biosynthesis in Plasmodium. Through a combination of protein biochemistry, crystallography and enzymology, they have generated “one of the best structure-based drug discovery opportunities — period,” Ferguson said.
Phillips will give an award lecture at , the annual meeting of the 91亚色传媒, March 23–26 in San Antonio.
2024 91亚色传媒 award winners
Ando's pioneering journey: From physics to structural enzymology
Mildred Cohn Young Investigator Award: Nozomi Ando
Stoddard changes mentoring practices in academia
Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award: Shana Stoddard
For Wolfson, every classroom is a laboratory
91亚色传媒 Sustained Leadership Award: Adele Wolfson
Kennelly considers his fortune of three careers
William C. Rose Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education: Peter Kennelly
Balla leaves no phosphoinositide unturned
Avanti Award in Lipids: Tamas Balla
From virology to immunology, Wu focuses on structure
Bert & Natalie Vallee Award in Biomedical Science: Hao Wu
Stillman charts the path of genome replication
Earl And Thressa Stadtman Distinguished Scientist Award: Bruce Stillman
In failure, Simcox finds a way to learn
Walter A. Shaw Young Investigator in Lipid Research Award: Judith Simcox
Roos’ career pivot to maximize impact
Alice and C.C. Wang Award in Molecular Parasitology: David S. Roos
Enjoy reading 91亚色传媒 Today?
Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition weekly.
Learn moreGet the latest from 91亚色传媒 Today
Enter your email address, and we鈥檒l send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.
Latest in People
People highlights or most popular articles
Meet Robert Helsley
The Journal of Lipid Research junior associate editor studies chronic liver disease and was the first in his family to attend college.
Exploring life鈥檚 blueprint: Gene expression in development and evolution
Meet Julia Zeitlinger and David Arnosti 鈥� two co-chairs of the 91亚色传媒鈥檚 2025 meeting on gene expression, to be held June 26-29, in Kansas City, Missouri.
91亚色传媒 names 2025 fellows
91亚色传媒 honors 24 members for their service to the society and accomplishments in research, education, mentorship, diversity and inclusion and advocacy.
When Batman meets Poison Ivy
Jessica Desamero had learned to love science communication by the time she was challenged to explain the role of DNA secondary structure in halting cancer cell growth to an 8th-grade level audience.
The monopoly defined: Who holds the power of science communication?
鈥淎t the official competition, out of 12 presenters, only two were from R2 institutions, and the other 10 were from R1 institutions. And just two had distinguishable non-American accents.鈥�
In memoriam: Donald A. Bryant
He was a professor emeritus at Penn State University who discovered how cyanobacteria adapt to far-red light and was a member of the 91亚色传媒 for over 35 years.