Quinton Fivelman originally studied Chemistry, Microbiology and Pharmacology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He finished a PhD under Prof. David Warhurst at LSHTM in antimalarial drug combinations before joining the Baker team as a post-doc in 2003.
Quinton's background is in artemisinin drug combinations and how the combined effect of common antimalarials combined with artemisinin-derivatives in ACTs (artemisinin combination therapies) are affected by mutations in drug resistance proteins such as PfCRT and Pgh-1. He developed a new method for assessing antimalarial combinations in vitro which has been widely adopted.
Quinton is currently working on gene expression and microarray analysis in gametocytes (malaria sexual stages which essential for transmission to mosquitos). He has been looking at asexual and sexual stage-specific gene expression in Plasmodium falciparum using Affymetrix microarrays and other new technologies.
Ongoing research could have many benefits towards understanding the biology of sexual development and the process of fertilisation within the mosquito, leading to potentially develop new drugs or vaccines to eliminate malaria transmission and to improve prophylaxis and treatment.
Quinton is resposible for acquiring funding for DevelopMed research projects. He is also heavily involved in liasons between funding bodies and academic organisations.