Dr Hanafy Mahmoud Ismail

Senior Research Associate

Dr Ismail received his BSc and MSc degrees in pesticide chemistry and toxicology from Alexandria University (AU), Egypt. After graduation, he lectured in chemistry and pesticides modules to undergraduate and postgraduate students. In 2007, he moved to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to work on molecular aspects of drug and insecticide resistance.

Dr Ismail is currently a Senior Research Associate in the Vector Biology Department. His research focusses on developing and applying rigorous chemical biology approaches for interrogating complex biological systems to gain a mechanistic and functional understanding of bioactive-small molecule interactions with protein targets in physiological and pathological pathways. His research in chemical biology provides a combination of innovative chemical technologies and holistic system biology approaches to accelerate the fundamental discoveries in the areas of insecticides and antimicrobial resistance and host-pathogen interactions.

Key research grants

  • £962,023 - Medical Research Council (Feb 2021- January 24) Preemptive discovery of insecticide cross- resistance mechanisms for next generation malaria control products Mark Paine (P.I.), (RCoI) Hanafy M. Ismail, Co-PIs; David Weetman, Gareth Lycett (LSTM). Start date, 1st of February 2021.
  • £82,732- Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC). HPLC Analysis of tenebenal content in filter papers PIs Mark Paine and Hanafy Ismail. 1st of December 20- 31st of December 2022.
  • £95,400 - BBSRC Anti-Vec Pump Priming award. Targeted disruption of the steroid hormone inactivation pathway in Anopheles mosquitoes for malaria control. Mark Paine (P.I.), Co-PIs, Hanafy M. Ismail, Gareth Lycett (LSTM), Luc Salako Djogbenou, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin- April 2019-December 2021.
  • £38,966 - CEIDR Translational Pump Priming Award. Click-chemistry to enhance the therapeutic efficacy and translational potential of the IgG1-Fc PI Richard Pleass, Co-PIs Paul O’Neill (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool), Hanafy M. Ismail (LSTM) and Stephen Ward (LSTM). April 2019-December 2021.
  • £47,826 - CEIDR Translational Pump Priming Award. Development of smart molecules for tracking insecticides from surface to target PI Mark Paine (LSTM) Co-I’s Rasmita Raval (University of Liverpool) and Hanafy M. Ismail (LSTM). April 2019-December 2021.
  • $ 99,955 - The Global Fund. Reviewing the evidence for and against the selection of specific pyrethroids for programmatic purposes. P.I.s Dr Rosemary Lees (LSTM), Prof Hilary Ranson (LSTM), Dr David Weetman (LSTM), Dr Mark Paine (LSTM), Dr Hanafy M. Ismail (LSTM), Prof Philip McCall (LSTM), Dr Thomas Churcher (Imperial College London), Assoc Prof Catherine Moyes (Big Data Institute, University) and Dr Penny Hancock (University of Oxford)- January 2020- December 2020.
Recent publications: 

    Selected publications

    • Moyes, C. L., Lees, R. S., Yunta, C., Walker, K. J., Hemmings, K., Oladepo, F., Hancock, P. A., Weetman, D., Paine, M., & Ismail, H. M. (2021). Assessing cross-resistance within the pyrethroids in terms of their interactions with key cytochrome P450 enzymes and resistance in vector populations. Parasites & vectors, 14(1), 115. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-021-04609-5

      Corine Ngufor, Raphael N’Guessan, Josias Fagbohoun, Damien Todjinou, Abibath Odjo, David Malone, Hanafy Ismail, Martin Akogbeto and Mark Rowland (2016).Efficacy of the Olyset Duo net against insecticide-resistant mosquito vectors of malaria Science Translational Medicine 14 Sep 2016:Vol. 8, Issue 356, pp. 356
       
      Ismail, H. M, Victoria E. Barton, Matthew Panchana, Sitthivut Charoensutthivarakul, Giancarlo A. Biagini, Stephen A. Ward, and Paul M. O’Neill. Click Chemistry Based Proteomics highlights a common malaria parasite protein alkylation signature between synthetic 1,2,4-Trioxolane Antimalarials and the Artemisinins. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Volume 55, Issue 22, May 23, 2016, Pages 6401–6405
       
      Ismail, H. M.; Barton, V.; Phanchana, M.; Charoensutthivarakul, S.; Wong, M. H.; Hemingway, J.; Biagini, G. A.; O’Neill, P. M.; Ward, S. A., Artemisinin activity-based probes identify multiple molecular targets within the asexual stage of the malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum 3D7. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2016, 113, 2080-2085.

      Recommended in F1000 Prime “very good paper” https://f1000.com/prime/726131980

       

      Ismail, H. M.; Kumar, V.; Singh, R. P.; Williams, C.; Shivam, P.; Ghosh, A.; Deb, R.; Foster, G. M.; Hemingway, J.; Coleman, M.; Coleman, M.; Das, P.; Paine, M. J., Development of a Simple Dipstick Assay for Operational Monitoring of DDT. PLoS neglected tropical diseases 2016, 10, e0004324-e0004324.

      Coleman, M.; Foster, G. M.; Deb, R.; Singh, R. P.; Ismail, H. M.; Shivam, P.; Ghosh, A. K.; Dunkley, S.; Kumar, V.; Coleman, M., DDT-based indoor residual spraying suboptimal for visceral leishmaniasis elimination in India. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2015, 112, 8573-8578.

      Toé, K. H.; Jones, C. M.; N’Fale, S.; Ismail, H.; Dabiré, R. K.; Ranson, H., Increased pyrethroid resistance in malaria vectors and decreased bed net effectiveness, Burkina Faso. Emerging infectious diseases 2014, 20, 1691-1696.

      Russell, T. L.; Morgan, J. C.; Ismail, H.; Kaur, H.; Eggelte, T.; Oladepo, F.; Amon, J.; Hemingway, J.; Iata, H.; Paine, M., Evaluating the feasibility of using insecticide quantification kits (IQK) for estimating cyanopyrethroid levels for indoor residual spraying in Vanuatu. Malar J 2014, 13, 10.1186.

      Riveron, J. M.; Yunta, C.; Ibrahim, S. S.; Djouaka, R.; Irving, H.; Menze, B. D.; Ismail, H. M.; Hemingway, J.; Ranson, H.; Albert, A., A single mutation in the GSTe2 gene allows tracking of metabolically based insecticide resistance in a major malaria vector. Genome Biol 2014, 15, R27.

      Ismail, H. M.; O’Neill, P. M.; Hong, D. W.; Finn, R. D.; Henderson, C. J.; Wright, A. T.; Cravatt, B. F.; Hemingway, J.; Paine, M. J., Pyrethroid activity-based probes for profiling cytochrome P450 activities associated with insecticide interactions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2013, 110, 19766-19771. 

      David, J. -P.; Ismail, H. M.; Chandor-Proust, A.; Paine, M. J. I., Role of cytochrome P450s in insecticide resistance: impact on the control of mosquito-borne diseases and use of insecticides on Earth. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 2013, 368, 20120429.