Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Beatriz Baragaña is a Principal Investigator and the apicomplexan portfolio leader in the Drug Discovery Unit (DDU).
Beatriz graduated with a BSc in Chemistry from University of Oviedo (Spain) and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the same university under the supervision of Prof. Barluenga. She went on to join Prof. A. P. Davies lab at Trinity College (Dublin) followed by an industrial postdoctoral position as Medicinal Chemist at Bayer AG (Wuppertal, Germany). She moved to Scotland in 2001 and joined Avecia (now Piramal Pharma) where she became a team leader working in antibody drug conjugates for the treatment of cancer. In 2007 she joined Prof. Ian H. Gilbert group at the University of Dundee.
Beatriz leads a portfolio of projects for malaria, cryptosporidiosis and schistosomiasis drug discovery. The projects in her portfolio are at various stages along the drug discovery pathway and involve an extended network of international collaborators both in industry and academia. Beatriz leads teams of biologists, chemist, computational chemist, crystallographers, and pharmacologists to deliver leads and pre-clinical candidates with novel mode of actions for these infectious diseases. The most advanced compound discovered by her team, Cabamiquine (DDD489) has demonstrated single dose cures of malaria infections in a Phase I clinical study and is now in Phase 2 trials in Africa in combination with pyronaridine. The DDU malaria team has been awarded the Medicines for Malaria Venture Project of the Year Award twice (2014 and 2018).
Research interests
- Target based structure guided drug discovery for infectious diseases with a focus on malaria, tuberculosis, and cryptosporidiosis.
- Develop selective chemical probes to improve the understating of the biology of Plasmodium and Cryptosporidium parasites and unveil new molecular targets for drug discovery.
- Develop new pre-clinical candidates for malaria and cryptosporidiosis.
- Develop the drug discovery pathway for schistosomiasis, including target product profiles, a drug discovery cascade, and better understanding of the PK/PD.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
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Structure-guided drug discovery coalition
Baragana, B. (Investigator), Bodkin, M. (Investigator), Gilbert, I. (Investigator) & Postis, V. (Investigator)
1/07/24 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
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Fragment And Structure Based Hit Generation Platform For New Malaria Targets - Joint with Medicines for Malaria Venture and Universities of Ocford and Tokyo (CRT record 41007)
Baragana, B. (Investigator), Bodkin, M. (Investigator) & Gilbert, I. (Investigator)
1/04/24 → 31/03/26
Project: Research
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Fighting Malaria: PfGNA1 as a Novel Malaria Drug Target
Baragana, B. (Investigator), Gilbert, I. (Investigator) & Postis, V. (Investigator)
Project: Research
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Target Discovery for Antimalarials (Joint with University of California San Diego)
Baragana, B. (Investigator) & Gilbert, I. (Investigator)
University of California at San Diego
1/01/21 → 1/01/22
Project: Research
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Genetic Validation of a Promising Drug Target for Cryptosporidiosis
Baragana, B. (Investigator), Gilbert, I. (Investigator), Pawlowic, M. C. (Investigator) & Wyllie, S. (Investigator)
Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland
20/08/19 → 19/02/21
Project: Research
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Design and development of lysyl tRNA synthetase inhibitors, for the treatment of tuberculosis
Davis, S. H., Mathieson, M., Buchanan, K. I., Dawson, A., Smith, A., Cocco, M., Tamaki, F. K., Post, J. M., Baragaña, B., Jansen, C., Kiczun, M., Zuccotto, F., Wood, G., Scullion, P., Ray, P. C., Epemolu, O., Lopez-Román, E. M., Guijarro López, L., Engelhart, C. A. & Kim, J. & 8 others, , 14 Aug 2025, In: Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 68, 15, p. 16459-16482 24 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile8 Downloads (Pure) -
Different chemical scaffolds bind to L-phe site in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Phe-tRNA synthetase
Gade, P., Chang, C., Pryde, D., Fletcher, D., Niven, S., Godoy Magalhaes, L., Robinson, D. A., Saini, J., Ezzat Girgis Fahmy Ibrahim, P., Forte, B., Wower, J., Bodkin, M., Baragana, B. (Lead / Corresponding author), Gilbert, I., Michalska, K. & Joachimiak, A., 5 Apr 2025, In: European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 287, 12 p., 117335.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
1 Citation (Scopus) -
Drug Discovery Unit Annual Report 2024
Goddard, C., Gilbert, I., Baragana, B., Cleghorn, L., De Rycker, M., Floyd, A., Green, C., Farrell, S., Scott, D., Gray, D., Ahmed, M., Bodkin, M. & Richardson, A., 2025, University of Dundee. 48 p.Research output: Book/Report › Other report
Open AccessFile43 Downloads (Pure) -
Mechanistic Insights into Dual-Active Liver and Blood-Stage Antiplasmodials
Rawat, M., Boonyalai, T., Smidt, C., Luth, M. R., Chen, D., Plater, A., Post, J., Lin, D., McMillan, J., Eadsforth, T., Moliner Cubel, S., Billker, O., Rayner, J. C., Gamo, F.-J., Baragana, B., Winzeler, E. A. & Lee, M. C. S., 24 Nov 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: MBio. 20 p., e02423-25.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Navigating the Landscape of Academic Drug Discovery: An 18-Year Journey
Baragana, B. & Cleghorn, L., 10 Apr 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. p. 5Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial
Activities
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Optimisation of lysyl-tRNA synthetase inhibitors for malaria: The single dose cure challenge
Baragana, B. (Speaker)
13 Jun 2024Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Development of new treatments for malaria and cryptosporidiosis
Baragana, B. (Speaker)
13 Sept 2024Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Antimalarial drug discovery: the single dose cure challenge
Baragana, B. (Speaker)
18 Sept 2024Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture
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The drug discovery unit: collaborating to develop antimalarials with novel modes of action
Baragana, B. (Speaker)
3 Jul 2023Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Collaborating to develop antimalarials with novel modes of action
Baragana, B. (Speaker)
30 Oct 2023Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk