Prof. Alex Loukas leads the research program at Paragen Bio. Alex’s 20+ year scientific career has focused on parasitic helminths and he is regarded as a world leader in the field of helminth secretomes and their utility as medicines. Alex was awarded a PhD in 1995 from the University of Queensland. He conducted postdoctoral work on helminth. secreted proteins at The University of Edinburgh and was an Assistant Research Professor at George Washington University where he led the antigen discovery group for the Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative. Vaccine antigens discovered by the Loukas group have completed phase 1 clinical trials for both hookworm disease and schistosomiasis, and are advancing through clinical trials. In 2010 Alex established the Centre for Biodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics at James Cook University. Alex has published more than 300 peer reviewed articles, holds numerous patents for helminth vaccines and immunotherapeutics and his academic research is funded by NHMRC, NIH (NCI), Austrade and numerous pharmaceutical companies.
