UC San Diego

Parasitic nematodes are globally widespread in human, animals and plants, infecting one-quarter of the world’s population and creating an economic burden on agricultural industries. With the fear or reality associated with the emergence of drug resistance, new anthelmintic compounds are needed. Therefore, to facilitate the drug discovery process, an infrared-based motility assay utilizing the free-living nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, as a model for parasitic nematodes, was developed and validated. The assay was put to work to screen 400 compounds from two open-source small-molecule libraries distributed by the Medicines for Malaria Venture, namely, the COVID Box and Global Health Priority Box. The screening assay identified four compounds with previously undescribed activities against nematodes, underlying its utility as a drug discovery tool.