In June 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO), recognizing the need for new diagnostics to support the control and elimination of onchocerciasis, published the target product profiles (TPPs) of new tests that would support the two most immediate needs: (a) mapping onchocerciasis in areas of low prevalence and (b) deciding when to stop mass drug …
Oxygen-dependent regulation of E3(SCF)ubiquitin ligases and a Skp1-associated JmjD6 homolog in development of the social amoeba Dictyostelium
E3-SCF (Skp1/cullin-1/F-box protein) polyubiquitin ligases activate the proteasomal degradation of over a thousand proteins, but the evolutionary diversification of the F-box protein (FBP) family of substrate receptor subunits has challenged their elucidation in protists. Here we expand the FBP candidate list in the social amoeba Dictyostelium and show that the Skp1 interactome is highly remodeled …
Direct type I interferon signaling in hepatocytes controls malaria
Malaria is a devastating disease impacting over half of the world's population. Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria undergo obligatory development and replication in hepatocytes before infecting red blood cells and initiating clinical disease. While type I interferons (IFNs) are known to facilitate innate immune control to Plasmodium in the liver, how they do so has …
In the News: Christopher Rice quoted in news stories on Naegleria fowleri
Assistant Research Scientist Christopher Rice is quoted in news stories about the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri Swimming in freshwater? Here’s what to know about the rare brain-eating Naegleria fowleri. (USA Today) Iowa lake beach temporarily closed after swimmer contracts rare brain-eating amoeba infection (Daily News) Missouri swimmer infected with rare brain-eating amoeba, likely from lake in …
In the News: Dennis Kyle is quoted in “brain-eating” amoeba news story
A Nexstar Media wire story on Naegleria fowleri (aka "brain-eating" amoeba) featuring CTEGD director Dennis Kyle has been picked up by news outlets. Brain-eating amoeba: How do most infections occur? (NewsNation) Brain-eating amoeba: How do infections occur, and where are they most common? (The Hill)
A Krüppel-like factor is required for development and regeneration of germline and yolk cells from somatic stem cells in planarians
Fig 8. Germ cell niche factor ophis is required to sustain yolk cell production/vitellogenesis.(A–C) Maximum intensity projections of confocal sections showing FISH of LamA (A), klf4l (B), and MX1 (C) (green) in the ventral posterior region of sexually mature control versus ophis RNAi animals. Dashed line denotes planarian boundary. N = 3 to 5 experiments, …
Fagbami named 2022 Burroughs Wellcome Fund PDEP Fellow
UGA’s Lọla Fagbami, winner of a Burroughs Wellcome Fund 2022 Postdoctoral Diversity Enrichment Program fellowship, is a native of Lagos, Nigeria, who relocated to the United States with her family in the late 1990s. She is passionate about expanding scientific literacy through outreach and mentoring as well as refuting chemophobia—the fear of or aversion to …
Quantitative 3D Imaging of Trypanosoma cruzi-Infected Cells, Dormant Amastigotes, and T Cells in Intact Clarified Organs
Chagas disease is a neglected pathology that affects millions of people worldwide, mainly in Latin America. The Chagas disease agent, Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), is an obligate intracellular parasite with a diverse biology that infects several mammalian species, including humans, causing cardiac and digestive pathologies. Reliable detection of T. cruzi in vivo infections has long …
Plasmodium knowlesi Cytoadhesion Involves SICA Variant Proteins
Plasmodium knowlesi poses a health threat throughout Southeast Asian communities and currently causes most cases of malaria in Malaysia. This zoonotic parasite species has been studied in Macaca mulatta (rhesus monkeys) as a model for severe malarial infections, chronicity, and antigenic variation. The phenomenon of Plasmodium antigenic variation was first recognized during rhesus monkey infections. Plasmodium-encoded variant proteins were first discovered …
Multiplex Serology for Measurement of IgG Antibodies Against Eleven Infectious Diseases in a National Serosurvey: Haiti 2014-2015
Background: Integrated surveillance for multiple diseases can be an efficient use of resources and advantageous for national public health programs. Detection of IgG antibodies typically indicates previous exposure to a pathogen but can potentially also serve to assess active infection status. Serological multiplex bead assays have recently been developed to simultaneously evaluate exposure to multiple antigenic …









