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

Evolutionary genomics of APSE: a tailed phage that lysogenically converts the bacterium Hamiltonella defensa into a heritable protective symbiont of aphids

Donna Huber on November 10, 2021

Background: Most phages infect free-living bacteria but a few have been identified that infect heritable symbionts of insects or other eukaryotes. Heritable symbionts are usually specialized and isolated from other bacteria with little known about the origins of associated phages. Hamiltonella defensa is a heritable bacterial symbiont of aphids that is usually infected by a tailed, …

The transcriptome of Balamuthia mandrillaris trophozoites for structure-guided drug design

Donna Huber on November 4, 2021

Balamuthia mandrillaris, a pathogenic free-living amoeba, causes cutaneous skin lesions as well as granulomatous amoebic encephalitis, a 'brain-eating' disease. As with the other known pathogenic free-living amoebas (Naegleria fowleri and Acanthamoeba species), drug discovery efforts to combat Balamuthia infections of the central nervous system are sparse; few targets have been validated or characterized at the …

The Histidine Ammonia Lyase of Trypanosoma cruzi Is Involved in Acidocalcisome Alkalinization and Is Essential for Survival under Starvation Conditions

Donna Huber on November 2, 2021

Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, accumulates polyphosphate (polyP) and Ca2+ inside acidocalcisomes. The alkalinization of this organelle stimulates polyP hydrolysis and Ca2+ release. Here, we report that histidine ammonia lyase (HAL), an enzyme that catalyzes histidine deamination with production of ammonia (NH3) and urocanate, is responsible for acidocalcisome alkalinization. Histidine addition to live parasites expressing …

Expeditious recruitment of circulating memory CD8 T cells to the liver facilitates control of malaria

Donna Huber on November 2, 2021

Circulating memory CD8 T cell trafficking and protective capacity during liver-stage malaria infection remains undefined. We find that effector memory CD8 T cells (Tem) infiltrate the liver within 6 hours after malarial or bacterial infections and mediate pathogen clearance. Tem recruitment coincides with rapid transcriptional upregulation of inflammatory genes in Plasmodium-infected livers. Recruitment requires CD8 …

VEuPathDB: the eukaryotic pathogen, vector and host bioinformatics resource center

Donna Huber on October 28, 2021

The Eukaryotic Pathogen, Vector and Host Informatics Resource (VEuPathDB, https://veupathdb.org) represents the 2019 merger of VectorBase with the EuPathDB projects. As a Bioinformatics Resource Center funded by the National Institutes of Health, with additional support from the Welllcome Trust, VEuPathDB supports >500 organisms comprising invertebrate vectors, eukaryotic pathogens (protists and fungi) and relevant free-living or …

Control and elimination of lymphatic filariasis in Oceania: Prevalence, geographical distribution, mass drug administration, and surveillance in Samoa, 1998-2017

Donna Huber on October 27, 2021

Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a major public health problem globally and in the Pacific Region. The Global Programme to Eliminate LF has made great progress but LF is persistent and resurgent in some Pacific countries and territories. Samoa remains endemic for LF despite elimination efforts through multiple two-drug mass drug administrations (MDA) since 1965, including …

Researchers implement new tool to screen drugs for treating malaria relapses

Donna Huber on October 21, 2021

Steve Maher, assistant research scientist in the Center for Tropical Emerging and Global Diseases, leads a team of researchers who have implemented a new screening tool to determine if a drug candidate kills hypnozoites, the cause of malaria relapses. (Photo by Donna Huber) Globally, efforts to control malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax are lagging behind that of …

Application of SARS-CoV-2 serology to address public health priorities

Donna Huber on October 14, 2021

Background: Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 can be detected by various testing platforms, but a detailed understanding of assay performance is critical. Methods: We developed and validated a simple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect IgG binding to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2, which was then applied for surveillance. ELISA results were compared to a set …

Outhouses, clean water key to fighting schistosomiasis in persistent hotspots

Donna Huber on October 11, 2021

Dan Colley, professor emeritus of microbiology and former director of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, devoted much of his career to studying schistosomiasis, a disease caused by waterborne parasites that is endemic in several African nations. (photo credit: Andrew Tucker) Schistosomiasis, caused by several species of the parasitic worm Schistosoma, is a …

Probing the distinct chemosensitivity of Plasmodium vivax liver stage parasites and demonstration of 8-aminoquinoline radical cure activity in vitro

Donna Huber on October 7, 2021

Improved control of Plasmodium vivax malaria can be achieved with the discovery of new antimalarials with radical cure efficacy, including prevention of relapse caused by hypnozoites residing in the liver of patients. We screened several compound libraries against P. vivax liver stages, including 1565 compounds against mature hypnozoites, resulting in one drug-like and several probe-like …

Author: Donna Huber