John Okombo

Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Columbia University

John Okombo is an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University. His research integrates medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, and biochemistry to combat infectious diseases, with a specific focus on antimalarial drug discovery, drug resistance mechanisms, and enzyme inhibition. His latest work includes characterizing collateral hypersensitivity between ZY19489 and piperaquine that neutralizes PfCRT-mediated drug efflux, structure-guided optimization of Plasmodium lysyl-tRNA synthetase inhibitors, and revisiting the druggable genome of Plasmodium falciparum using predicted structures. He has also identified novel inhibitors of protein kinase 6 and hemozoin formation, and explored quinoxaline-based anti-schistosomal compounds with potent anti-plasmodial activity. His recent publications appear in Nature Communications, Nature Reviews Microbiology, and Cell Chemical Biology.

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John Okombo

Columbia University

Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology

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pharmacology malaria medicinal chemistry drug resistance drug discovery biochemistry future medicinal chemistry infectious diseases enzyme inhibition pharmacognosy bioorganic chemistry natural product research pharmacological research therapeutic targets parasitology medicine drug metabolism medicinal research tropical medicine antimicrobial agents neglected tropical diseases pharmaceutics natural product communication antiparasitic agent phytotherapy research marine drug pharmacotherapy parasite genomics drug resistance analysis antiviral research infection control antiviral drug development drug development pharmaceutical chemistry pharmaceutical research antiviral therapy drug targeting therapeutic efficacy plasmodium falciparum genetic basis drug trials eradication of disease viral persistence treatment options drug targets therapeutic patent pathogen transmission disease progression emerging infectious diseases host-parasite relationships antibiotic resistance plant-parasite coevolution candidate selection key site heme degradation comparative genomics host genetics computational genomics sequence analysis medical biophysics experimental biophysics antimalarial drug discovery molecular targets genetic screens heme metabolism artemisinin susceptibility mutator parasite resistome discovery mechanistic evaluation mouse model lead optimization plasmodium falciparum malaria integrated lead generation tuberculosis drug discovery patent review chloroquine-containing compounds

Notable Scholarly Works

Notable Federal Grants

Collaborators

Collateral Hypersensitivity Between Zy19489 and Piperaquine Neutralizes Pfcrt-Mediated Drug Efflux and Plasmodium Falciparum Resistance. Nature Communications (2026)

malariapharmacologydrug resistanceenzyme inhibitiontropical medicinedrug resistance analysis

Structure Guided Optimization of Novel Inhibitors of Plasmodium Lysyl-Trna Synthetase With Multistage Activity Against Malaria Parasites. ChemRxiv (2026)

malariadrug discoveryenzyme inhibitionbiochemistryrational drug design

Plasmodium Falciparum Protein Kinase 6 and Hemozoin Formation Are Inhibited by a Type II Human Kinase Inhibitor Exhibiting Antimalarial Activity. Cell chemical biology (2025)

pharmacologymalariaenzyme inhibitionbiochemistryantiparasitic agentinhibitory activity

Quinoxaline-Based Anti-Schistosomal Compounds Have Potent Anti-Plasmodial Activity. PLoS Pathogens (2025)

future medicinal chemistrymedicinal chemistrypharmacologydrug discoveryparasitologypharmacognosybiomolecular engineering

Revisiting the Plasmodium Falciparum Druggable Genome Using Predicted Structures and Data Mining. npj Drug Discovery. (2025)

geneticsmalariabioinformaticsgenomicsdrug resistancecomputational biologymolecular informaticsmolecular biologysystems biologygenome biologytropical medicineparasite genomicsdata miningsequence analysisbiomedical informatics

Shared Binding Site but Divergent Resistance Profiles Uncover Novel Resistance Mechanisms in Plasmodium Hsp90 Inhibitors. bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2025)

malariadrug resistanceenzyme inhibitionmolecular biologydrug resistance analysis

A Novel 4-Aminoquinoline Chemotype With Multistage Antimalarial Activity and Lack of Cross-Resistance With Pfcrt and Pfmdr1 Mutants. PLoS Pathogens (2024)

Letícia Tiburcio FerreiraGustavo Capatti CassianoLuis Carlos Salazar AlvarezJohn OkomboJuliana CalitDiana FontinhaEva Gil-IturbeRachael CoyleCarolina Horta AndradePer SunnerhagenDaniel Youssef BargieriMiguel PrudêncioMatthias QuickPedro V CravoMarcus C S LeeDavid A FidockFabio Trindade Maranhão Costa

malariainfection controldrug resistanceantiviral drugsantiparasitic agentfuture medicinal chemistryantiviral therapypharmacologymedicinal chemistryinfectious diseasesvirologymultistage antimalarial activityantiviral drug developmentmolecular biologytherapeutic efficacyantiviral researchmedicinal researchgeneral virologytherapeutic targets

Inhibitors of Malaria Parasite Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases Block Asexual Blood-Stage Development and Mosquito Transmission. Science Advances (2024)

Paula-Josefina Gomez-GonzalezAntima GuptaLaura G. DroughtAvnish PatelJohn OkomboMariëtte van der WattRyan Walker-GrayKyra A. SchindlerAnna Y. BurkhardTomas YeoSunil K. NarwalTalia S. BloxhamChristian FlueckEloise M. WalkerJoshua A. ReyKate J. FairhurstJanette ReaderHeekuk ParkHarry G. PollardLindsay B. StewartLuke Brandner-GarrodMojca KristanGeert-Jan SterkYouri M. van NulandEmilia MankoDonelly A. van SchalkwykYang ZhengRob LeursKoen J. DecheringAnna Caroline C. AguiarRafael V. C. GuidoDhelio B. PereiraPatrick K. TumwebazeSamuel L. NosbyaPhilip J. RosenthalRoland A. CooperMike PalmerTanya ParkinsonJeremy N. BurrowsAnne-Catrin UhlemannLyn-Marié BirkholtzJennifer L. Small-SaundersJames DuffyDavid A. FidockAlan BrownMark GardnerDavid A. Baker

mosquito transmissionmalariaasexual blood-stage developmentinfectious diseasesscience advancedisease transmission

Plasmodium Falciparum Quinine Resistance is Multifactorial and Includes a Role for the Drug/Metabolite Transporters Pfcrt and Dmt1. bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2024)

Mariko KanaiSachel MokTomas YeoMelanie J. ShearsLeila S. RossJin H. JeonSunil NarwalMeseret T. HaileAbhai K. TripathiGodfree MlamboJonathan KimEva Gil-IturbeJohn OkomboKate J. FairhurstTalia BloxhamJessica L. BridgfordTanaya ShethKurt E. WardHeekuk ParkFelix D. RozenbergMatthias QuickFilippo ManciaMarcus C.S. LeeJennifer L. Small-SaundersAnne-Catrin UhlemannPhotini SinnisDavid A. Fidock

geneticsbiologydrug resistancemolecular microbiologymolecular biologyquinine resistancedrug metabolism

Systematic in Vitro Evolution in Plasmodium Falciparum Reveals Key Determinants of Drug Resistance. Science (2024)

Madeline R. LuthKarla P. Godinez-MaciasDaisy ChenJohn OkomboVandana ThathyXiu ChengSindhu DaggupatiHeledd DaviesSatish K. DhingraJan M. EconomyRebecca C. S. EdgarMaria G. Gomez-LorenzoEva S. IstvanJuan Carlos JadoGregory M. LaMonteBruno MelilloSachel MokSunil K. NarwalTolla NdiayeSabine OttilieSara Palomo DiazHeekuk ParkStella PeñaFrances RocamoraTomoyo Sakata-KatoJennifer L. Small-SaundersRobert L. SummersPatrick K. TumwebazeManu VanaerschotGuoqin XiaTomas YeoAshley YouFrancisco-Javier GamoDaniel E. GoldbergMarcus C. S. LeeCase W. McNamaraDaouda NdiayePhilip J. RosenthalStuart L. SchreiberGloria SerraJair Lage De Siqueira-NetoTina S. Skinner-AdamsAnne-Catrin UhlemannNobutaka KatoAmanda K. LukensDyann F. WirthDavid A. FidockElizabeth A. Winzeler

biosensorsparasitologyprotein scienceclinical microbiologyfuture medicinal chemistrymolecular cancermicrobiologyplant-parasite coevolutionvitro evolutionantibiotic resistancedermatologycandidate selectiongene expressionkey sitedrug analysisimmunologydrug resistance analysishivtherapeutic targetskey determinants