Assistant Professor, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
Developing Preclinical Frameworks to Advance Drug Discovery for Babesiosis
Dr. Hyson’s project addresses a significant gap in babesiosis drug development. Babesiosis is a serious and emerging tick-borne infection caused by Babesia parasites that can result in severe illness and death, particularly in immunocompromised patients. While current treatments exist, they are frequently inadequate, with treatment failure rates as high as 20% in high-risk populations and increasing problems with drug-resistant infections.
Despite the rising burden of babesiosis in the United States, the drug development pipeline for new therapies remains critically limited. There is no standardized framework to evaluate and prioritize drug candidates after initial screening, leading to inefficient advancement decisions. Dr. Hyson’s work aims to establish a rigorous, data-driven approach to babesiosis drug discovery that will accelerate development of urgently needed therapies.
He is developing quantitative laboratory assays to measure key properties of drug candidates, including parasite-killing kinetics and potential for resistance. By integrating these parameters into a structured preclinical workflow, this research will establish a data-driven framework for Babesia drug prioritization and provide the foundation for identifying which compounds are most likely to succeed in clinical development. This work will advance promising candidate compounds and establish standards that the broader Babesia research community can use to accelerate development of better treatments.