Donna Huber, Author at Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases

Cassera named summer 2021 Innovation Fellow

Donna Huber on August 9, 2021

by Ashley Crain Belen Cassera (Submitted photo) Associate professor Belen Cassera is one step closer to introducing her research to the marketplace. Having spent the summer as UGA’s newest Innovation Fellow, Cassera has learned a lot about how to bring parasitic disease therapeutics arising from her research to market. “In fall 2019, I was among the 18 chosen women …

Ph.D. candidate Ale Villegas and advisor Vasant Muralidharan receive Gilliam Graduate Fellowship Award

Donna Huber on July 28, 2021

PhD Candidate Ale Villegas and Advisor Dr. Vasant Muralidharan (Photo Courtesy of Vasant Muralidharan) Malaria’s connection to Georgia goes back to the colonial period. The Southeastern United States provided prime conditions for a thriving mosquito population which ensured the spread of the disease. The state capital moved from Louisville to Milledgeville in 1806 in part because of …

Turnover of Variant Surface Glycoprotein in Trypanosoma brucei Is a Bimodal Process

Donna Huber on July 28, 2021

African trypanosomes utilize glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) to evade the host immune system. VSG turnover is thought to be mediated via cleavage of the GPI anchor by endogenous GPI-specific phospholipase C (GPI-PLC). However, GPI-PLC is topologically sequestered from VSG substrates in intact cells. Recently, A. J. Szempruch, S. E. Sykes, R. Kieft, L. …

Evaluation of the in vitro susceptibility of various filarial nematodes to emodepside

Donna Huber on July 28, 2021

Filariae are vector-borne nematodes responsible for an enormous burden of disease. Human lymphatic filariasis, caused by Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, and Brugia timori, and onchocerciasis (caused by Onchocerca volvulus) are neglected parasitic diseases of major public health significance in tropical regions. To date, therapeutic efforts to eliminate human filariasis have been hampered by the lack …

Delayed treatment with the immunotherapeutic LNFPIII ameliorates multiple neurological deficits in a pesticide-nerve agent prophylactic mouse model of Gulf War Illness

Donna Huber on July 10, 2021

Residual effects of the 1990-1991 Gulf War (GW) still plague veterans 30 years later as Gulf War Illness (GWI). Thought to stem mostly from deployment-related chemical overexposures, GWI is a disease with multiple neurological symptoms with likely immunological underpinnings. Currently, GWI remains untreatable, and the long-term neurological disease manifestation is not characterized fully. The present …

Belen Cassera named parasitology section editor for Current Clinical Microbiology Reports

Donna Huber on July 8, 2021

Last summer, biochemistry associate professor and Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases member Belen Cassera was named the parasitology section editor for Current Clinical Microbiology Reports and has produced her first issue of reviews. Before former Editor-in-Chief Alan Hudson from Wayne State University School of Medicine stepped down, he recruited Cassera based on a …

Defense-Related Gene Expression Following an Orthotospovirus Infection Is Influenced by Host Resistance in Arachis hypogaea

Donna Huber on July 5, 2021

Planting resistant cultivars is the most effective tactic to manage the thrips-transmitted tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus (TSWV) in peanut plants. However, molecular mechanisms conferring resistance to TSWV in resistant cultivars are unknown. In this study, transcriptomes of TSWV-susceptible (SunOleic 97R) and field-resistant (Tifguard) peanut cultivars with and without TSWV infection were assembled and differentially expressed …

Mitochondrial Ca2+ and Reactive Oxygen Species in Trypanosomatids

Donna Huber on July 4, 2021

Significance: Millions of people are infected with trypanosomatids and new therapeutic approaches are needed. Trypanosomatids possess one mitochondrion per cell, and its study has led to discoveries of general biological interest. These mitochondria, as their animal counterparts, generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and have enzymatic and non-enzymatic defenses against them. Mitochondrial calcium ion (Ca2+) overload leads …

Serendipity leads UGA researcher into uncharted territory and a new NIH grant

Donna Huber on July 2, 2021

Ronald Drew Etheridge, UGA assistant professor of cellular biology, was awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue his gene-editing work on Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas’ disease. (Photo by Donna Huber) Ronald Drew Etheridge’s scientific career can be characterized by one word—serendipity. After completing his bachelor’s degree in …

Trainee Spotlight: Mayara Bertolini

Donna Huber on June 23, 2021

Mayara Bertolini is a third year Ph.D. trainee in the laboratory of Dr. Roberto Docampo. She has recently been awarded a predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association. Please tell us a little about yourself. I am from São Paulo, Brazil and I have always been a very curious person that likes to discover unique …

Author: Donna Huber