Drug development
Trypanosomes are characterized by a unique form of metabolic compartmentation; the majority of the enzymes of the glycolytic pathway is sequestered in peroxisome-like organelles called glycosomes. Therefore the glycolytic pathway is considered a validated and promising target for new drugs to be designed. Since many years the TROP Unit studies the kinetic and structural properties of the glycolytic enzymes of Trypanosoma brucei and closely related parasites such as T. cruzi and Leishmania mexicana, and uses the collected information for the design of effective and selective inhibitors by structure-based and catalytic mechanism-based approaches.

Glycosome biogenesis

Glycosome turnover
The different life-cycle stages of the trypanosome are characterized by strikingly different forms of energy metabolism. These changes involve both the trypanosome's mitochondrion and its glycosomes. During the differentiation of one life-cycle stage into another existing glycosomes are being degraded by a process called autophagy and replaced by newly formed glycosomes. The different processes leading to glycosome biogenesis and degradation are being studied.

Genomics and proteomics
With the completion of the TriTryp genome-sequencing projects (T. brucei, T. cruzi and L. major) , it is now possible to chart the metabolic capacities of these three organisms and to compare them not only with each other, but also with the human host. Sequence analysis, identification of metabolic enzymes and the elucidation of metabolic capacities by using both bioinformatic tools and proteomics, are quickly leading to a better understanding of the metabolic capacities of these organisms.