University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center · PharmacologySchistosomiasis Drug Discovery Unit
James J Collins · Dallas, Texas
Research Focus
The lab led by Dr. James J. Collins at UT Southwestern focuses on developing new therapeutic strategies to combat schistosomiasis, a disease caused by parasitic worms affecting millions worldwide. The team aims to discover and validate drug targets that can lead to the development of next-generation antischistosome therapies, addressing the urgent need for effective treatments due to rising drug resistance. By leveraging advanced techniques like RNA interference, they are identifying essential genes in schistosomes to pave the way for innovative drug discovery efforts.
schistosomiasisdrug target discoveryRNA interferenceparasite resistancedrug developmenthigh throughput screeningantiparasitic therapiestropical diseasesbiomedical research
Research Aims
3AIM 01Identify and prioritize druggable targets in schistosomes using RNAi and computational methods.
AIM 02Validate the druggability of identified targets through small-scale screening of compounds.
AIM 03Develop innovative strategies for lead optimization of new therapeutic candidates against schistosomiasis.
Skills the Lab Values
RNA interference techniqueshigh throughput screeningin vitro assaysin vivo modelsgenetic analysisdrug screeningmolecular biologyprotein analysisdata analysis using bioinformatics
Output against the department
Publications588top 8% of dept.36th of 462
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations114ktop 1% of dept.1st of 462
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.