Emily Rose Derbyshire

Associate Professor of Chemistry

The Derbyshire Lab uses both chemical tools and biological methods to uncover novel aspects of malaria parasite biology with the ultimate aim of identifying druggable targets. Projects range from developing assays for phenotypic and target-based screens to exploring biological pathways and identifying small molecules with potential therapeutic value. Their interdisciplinary collaborative program integrates chemical biology, molecular biology and biochemistry to globally interrogate parasite biology.

Appointments and Affiliations

• Associate Professor of Chemistry
• Assistant Professor in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
• Associate Professor of Cell Biology
• Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society

Contact Information

• Office Location: 3218 French Science Center, Durham, NC 27708
• Office Phone: (919) 660-1511
• Email Address: emily.derbyshire@duke.edu
• Websites:
  • Derbyshire Research Group

Education

• Harvard Medical School, 2014
• Ph.D. University of California - Berkeley, 2008
• B.S. Trinity College, 2002

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

Courses Taught

• CHEM 89S: First-Year Seminar
• CHEM 393: Research Independent Study
• CHEM 394: Research Independent Study
• CHEM 401: Analytical Chemistry
• CHEM 493: Research Independent Study
• CHEM 494: Research Independent Study
• CHEM 517: Molecules in Life and Disease
• MGM 293: Research Independent Study I
• MGM 593: Research Independent Study

In the News

• Meet the Newly Tenured Faculty of 2021 (Sep 21, 2021 | Office of Faculty Advancement)
• The Potential of Trinity's 2021 Sloan Fellowship Winners (Feb 18, 2021 | Trinity College of Arts and Sciences)
• Three From Duke Named Sloan Fellows (Feb 15, 2021)
• Duke Researchers Discover How Malaria Parasites Withstand a Fever’s Heat (Oct 5, 2020)
• Thinking Big About Malaria, in the Lab and in the Classroom (Jun 4, 2020 | Trinity College of Arts and Sciences)
• Malaria Parasites Hijack Your Genes to Set up Camp Inside Your Liver (Jun 27, 2019)
• Malaria-Causing Parasite Manipulates Liver Cells to Survive (May 22, 2018)
• Two Duke Faculty Win NIH New Innovator Awards (Oct 5, 2017)
• Chemistry Professor Wins 2017 Marion Milligan Mason Award (Jan 11, 2017)
• Emily Derbyshire: Prospecting for Malaria Drugs (Oct 2, 2014)
• Cancer-Fighting Drugs Might Also Stop Malaria Early (Aug 25, 2014)

Representative Publications

• Lu, K-Y; Pasaje, CFA; Srivastava, T; Loiselle, DR; Niles, JC; Derbyshire, E, Phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate and Hsp70 protect Plasmodium falciparum from heat-induced cell death., Elife, vol 9 (2020) [10.7554/elife.56773] [abs].
• Ganley, JG; Pandey, A; Sylvester, K; Lu, K-Y; Toro-Moreno, M; Rütschlin, S; Bradford, JM; Champion, CJ; Böttcher, T; Xu, J; Derbyshire, ER, A Systematic Analysis of Mosquito-Microbiome Biosynthetic Gene Clusters Reveals Antimalarial Siderophores that Reduce Mosquito Reproduction Capacity., Cell Chemical Biology, vol 27 no. 7 (2020), pp. 817-826.e5 [10.1016/j.chembiol.2020.06.004] [abs].
• Posfai, D; Maher, SP; Roesch, C; Vantaux, A; Sylvester, K; Péneau, J; Popovici, J; Kyle, DE; Witkowski, B; Derbyshire, ER, Plasmodium vivax Liver and Blood Stages Recruit the Druggable Host Membrane Channel Aquaporin-3., Cell Chemical Biology, vol 27 no. 6 (2020), pp. 719-727.e5 [10.1016/j.chembiol.2020.03.009] [abs].
• Raphemot, R; Toro-Moreno, M; Lu, K-Y; Posfai, D; Derbyshire, ER, Discovery of Druggable Host Factors Critical to Plasmodium Liver-Stage Infection., Cell Chemical Biology, vol 26 no. 9 (2019), pp. 1253-1262.e5 [10.1016/j.chembiol.2019.05.011] [abs].