University of Georgia
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors

Author: Donna Huber

The influence of oviposition status on measures of transmission potential in malaria-infected mosquitoes depends on sugar availability

Donna Huber on May 23, 2024

Background: Like other oviparous organisms, the gonotrophic cycle of mosquitoes is not complete until they have selected a suitable habitat to oviposit. In addition to the evolutionary constraints associated with selective oviposition behavior, the physiological demands relative to an organism’s oviposition status also influence their nutrient requirement from the environment. Yet, studies that measure transmission potential …

Trainee Spotlight: Grace Vick

Donna Huber on May 16, 2024

My name is Grace Vick and I am a 4th year infectious diseases PhD candidate in Vasant Muralidharan’s lab. I’m originally from North Carolina and received my Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from Western Carolina University. After graduating undergraduate, I completed an internship at the Defense Forensic Science Center doing forensic biology research. After that, …

Hepatocytes and the art of killing Plasmodium softly

Donna Huber on May 6, 2024

  The Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria undergo asymptomatic development in the parenchymal cells of the liver, the hepatocytes, prior to infecting erythrocytes and causing clinical disease. Traditionally, hepatocytes have been perceived as passive bystanders that allow hepatotropic pathogens such as Plasmodium to develop relatively unchallenged. However, now there is emerging evidence suggesting that hepatocytes …

Identification of a viral gene essential for the genome replication of a domesticated endogenous virus in ichneumonid parasitoid wasps

Donna Huber on April 25, 2024

  Thousands of endoparasitoid wasp species in the families Braconidae and Ichneumonidae harbor “domesticated endogenous viruses” (DEVs) in their genomes. This study focuses on ichneumonid DEVs, named ichnoviruses (IVs). Large quantities of DNA-containing IV virions are produced in ovary calyx cells during the pupal and adult stages of female wasps. Females parasitize host insects by …

UGA geneticist gets to take risks with new seed grant

Donna Huber on April 19, 2024

By Donna Huber Tania Rozario, assistant professor in the Department of Genetics and member of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, recently received a seed grant from the Hypothesis Fund to develop a new approach toward advancing tapeworm research. Her natural inquisitiveness and willingness to tackle tough questions has led to this moment. …

Extended blood stage sensitivity profiles of Plasmodium cynomolgi to doxycycline and tafenoquine, as a model for Plasmodium vivax

Donna Huber on April 8, 2024

Testing Plasmodium vivax antimicrobial sensitivity is limited to ex vivo schizont maturation assays, which preclude determining the IC50s of delayed action antimalarials such as doxycycline. Using Plasmodium cynomolgi as a model for P. vivax, we determined the physiologically significant delayed death effect induced by doxycycline [IC50(96 h), 1,401 ± 607 nM]. As expected, IC50(96 h) to chloroquine (20.4 nM), piperaquine (12.6 µM), and …

Two CTEGD faculty members receive Creative Research Awards

Donna Huber on April 4, 2024

Jessica Kissinger and Dennis Kyle received the Lamar Dodd Creative Research Award during UGA’s Honors Week. The award recognizes established investigators whose overall scholarly body of work has had a major impact on the field of study and has established the investigator’s international reputation as a leader in the field. Jessica Kissinger, Distinguished Research Professor …

The Unfortunate Abundance of Trypanosoma cruzi in Naturally Infected Dogs and Monkeys Provides Unique Opportunities to Advance Solutions for Chagas Disease

Donna Huber on April 4, 2024

Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan parasite and cause of Chagas disease, is widely distributed in many vertebrate and triatomine species throughout North, Central, and South America. Variations in housing quality largely determines human infection risk in the Americas. However, the southern U.S. contains widespread, infected triatomine vectors and captive species and domesticated animals with active T. cruzi infection …

What is new in FungiDB: a web-based bioinformatics platform for omics-scale data analysis for fungal and oomycete species

Donna Huber on March 26, 2024

  FungiDB (https://fungidb.org) serves as a valuable online resource that seamlessly integrates genomic and related large-scale data for a wide range of fungal and oomycete species. As an integral part of the VEuPathDB Bioinformatics Resource Center (https://veupathdb.org), FungiDB continually integrates both published and unpublished data addressing various aspects of fungal biology. Established in early 2011, …