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Author: Donna Huber

B cell responses in chronic Chagas disease: Waning of Trypanosoma cruzi-specific antibody-secreting cells following successful etiological treatment

Donna Huber on December 26, 2022

Background: A drawback in the treatment of chronic Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) is the long time required to achieve complete loss of serological reactivity, the standard for determining treatment efficacy. Methods: Antibody-secreting and memory B cells specific for Trypanosoma cruzi and their degree of differentiation were evaluated in adult and pediatric subjects with chronic Chagas disease prior …

In Vitro Diagnostic Assay to Detect SARS-CoV-2-Neutralizing Antibody in Patient Sera Using Engineered ACE-2 Mini-Protein

Donna Huber on December 18, 2022

The recent development and mass administration of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines allowed for disease control, reducing hospitalizations and mortality. Most of these vaccines target the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) protein antigens, culminating with the production of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) that disrupt the attachment of the virus to ACE2 receptors on the host …

The CTEGD Cytometry Shared Resource Lab is growing!

Donna Huber on December 7, 2022

CTEGD's Cytometry Shared Resource Laboratory recently added a Malvern Panalytical NanoSight NS300 to their suite of cytometry instruments. This was a donation from the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Hajduk. The NanoSight allows rapid analysis of the size distribution and concentration of all types of nanoparticles from 0.01 - 1 µm in diameter.  It is important …

Cryopreservation of Plasmodium Sporozoites

Donna Huber on December 7, 2022

Cryopreservation protocol for Plasmodium sporozoites. Malaria is a deadly disease caused by the parasite, Plasmodium, and impacts the lives of millions of people around the world. Following inoculation into mammalian hosts by infected mosquitoes, the sporozoite stage of Plasmodium undergoes obligate development in the liver before infecting erythrocytes and causing clinical malaria. The most promising vaccine candidates for …

Integrative genetic manipulation of Plasmodium cynomolgi reveals MultiDrug Resistance-1 Y976F associated with increased in vitro susceptibility to mefloquine

Donna Huber on December 7, 2022

The lack of a long-term in vitro culture method has severely restricted the study of Plasmodium vivax, in part because it limits genetic manipulation and reverse genetics. We used the recently optimized P. cynomolgi Berok in vitro culture model to investigate the putative P. vivax drug resistance marker MDR1 Y976F. Introduction of this mutation using …

An aphid symbiont confers protection against a specialized RNA virus, another increases vulnerability to the same pathogen

Donna Huber on December 2, 2022

Insects often harbor heritable symbionts that provide defense against specialized natural enemies, yet little is known about symbiont protection when hosts face simultaneous threats. In pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum), the facultative endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa confers protection against the parasitoid, Aphidius ervi, and Regiella insecticola protects against aphid-specific fungal pathogens, including Pandora neoaphidis. Here we investigated …

Jessica Kissinger is special guest on podcast

Donna Huber on November 28, 2022

Jessica Kissinger was recently the guest researcher on the podcast Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta. Show notes: Parasites are known contributors to human disease and suffering, spanning a wide range of organisms. Dr. Jessie Kissinger from the University of Georgia has spent the last two decades curating genomic data from hundreds of parasites, their …

MaHPIC malaria systems biology data from Plasmodium cynomolgi sporozoite longitudinal infections in macaques

Donna Huber on November 24, 2022

Plasmodium cynomolgi causes zoonotic malarial infections in Southeast Asia and this parasite species is important as a model for Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium ovale. Each of these species produces hypnozoites in the liver, which can cause relapsing infections in the blood. Here we present methods and data generated from iterative longitudinal systems biology infection experiments …

New Confocal Microscope at the Biomedical Microscopy Core

Donna Huber on November 16, 2022

The University of Georgia’s Biomedical Microscopy Core has recently acquired a Zeiss LSM 980 confocal microscope with Airyscan2 and Multiplex Mode for confocal and super-resolution imaging. This new state-of-art microscope is capable of fast, gentle, and simultaneous imaging of live and fixed samples with up to 5 colors (Blue, green, Red, Far-Red & NIR), and …