University of Georgia
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Author: Donna Huber

Multiplex Serology for Measurement of IgG Antibodies Against Eleven Infectious Diseases in a National Serosurvey: Haiti 2014-2015

Donna Huber on June 9, 2022

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 …

Disruption of Toxoplasma gondii-Induced Host Cell DNA Replication Is Dependent on Contact Inhibition and Host Cell Type

Donna Huber on May 19, 2022

The protozoan Toxoplasma gondii is a highly successful obligate intracellular parasite that, upon invasion of its host cell, releases an array of host-modulating protein effectors to counter host defenses and further its own replication and dissemination. Early studies investigating the impact of T. gondii infection on host cell function revealed that this parasite can force …

Review of 2022 WHO guidelines on the control and elimination of schistosomiasis

Donna Huber on May 17, 2022

Schistosomiasis is a helminthiasis infecting approximately 250 million people worldwide. In 2001, the World Health Assembly (WHA) 54.19 resolution defined a new global strategy for control of schistosomiasis through preventive chemotherapy programmes. This resolution culminated in the 2006 WHO guidelines that recommended empirical treatment by mass drug administration with praziquantel, predominately to school-aged children in …

Small and intermediate size structural RNAs in the unicellular parasite Cryptosporidium parvum as revealed by sRNA-seq and comparative genomics

Donna Huber on May 10, 2022

Small and intermediate-size noncoding RNAs (sRNAs and is-ncRNAs) have been shown to play important regulatory roles in the development of several eukaryotic organisms. However, they have not been thoroughly explored in Cryptosporidium parvum, an obligate zoonotic protist parasite responsible for the diarrhoeal disease cryptosporidiosis. Using Illumina sequencing of a small RNA library, a systematic identification of …

Increasing the knowledge base on brain-eating amoeba

Donna Huber on April 28, 2022

Cassie Russell, a graduate student in the Department of Infectious Diseases, in her laboratory space. (Photo by Ian Bennett) Cassie Russell, a graduate student in the Department of Infectious Diseases, was an undergraduate when she first heard of Naegleria fowleri, also known as the brain-eating amoeba. While whole lectures in her parasitology course had been dedicated to …

Polymorphic Molecular Signatures in Variable Regions of the Plasmodium falciparum var2csa DBL3x Domain Are Associated with Virulence in Placental Malaria

Donna Huber on April 28, 2022

The Plasmodium falciparum protein VAR2CSA allows infected erythrocytes to accumulate within the placenta, inducing pathology and poor birth outcomes. Multiple exposures to placental malaria (PM) induce partial immunity against VAR2CSA, making it a promising vaccine candidate. However, the extent to which VAR2CSA genetic diversity contributes to immune evasion and virulence remains poorly understood. The deep sequencing of …

Essential Bromodomain Tc BDF2 as a Drug Target against Chagas Disease

Donna Huber on April 28, 2022

Trypanosoma cruzi is a unicellular parasite that causes Chagas disease, which is endemic in the American continent but also worldwide, distributed by migratory movements. A striking feature of trypanosomatids is the polycistronic transcription associated with post-transcriptional mechanisms that regulate the levels of translatable mRNA. In this context, epigenetic regulatory mechanisms have been revealed to be of …

Alkyne modified purines for assessment of activation of Plasmodium vivax hypnozoites and growth of pre-erythrocytic and erythrocytic stages in Plasmodium spp

Donna Huber on April 18, 2022

Malaria is a major global health problem which predominantly afflicts developing countries. Although many antimalarial therapies are currently available, the protozoan parasite causing this disease, Plasmodium spp., continues to evade eradication efforts. One biological phenomenon hampering eradication efforts is the parasite's ability to arrest development, transform into a drug-insensitive form, and then resume growth post-therapy. …

Ad libitum consumption of protein- or peptide-sucrose solutions stimulates egg formation by prolonging the vitellogenic phase of oogenesis in anautogenous mosquitoes

Donna Huber on April 12, 2022

Background: Anautogenous mosquitoes commonly consume nectars and other solutions containing sugar but are thought to only produce eggs in discrete gonadotrophic cycles after blood-feeding on a vertebrate host. However, some anautogenous species are known to produce eggs if amino acids in the form of protein are added to a sugar solution. Unclear is how different sources …