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

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 …

EdU Incorporation To Assess Cell Proliferation and Drug Susceptibility in Naegleria fowleri

Donna Huber on June 17, 2021

Naegleria fowleri is a pathogenic free-living amoeba that is commonly found in warm freshwater and can cause a rapidly fulminant disease known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). New drugs are urgently needed to treat PAM, as the fatality rate is >97%. Until recently, few advances have been made in the discovery of new drugs for …

Characterization of the Tubovesicular Network in Plasmodium vivax Liver Stage Hypnozoites and Schizonts

Donna Huber on June 14, 2021

Plasmodium is a genus of apicomplexan parasites which replicate in the liver before causing malaria. Plasmodium vivax can also persist in the liver as dormant hypnozoites and cause clinical relapse upon activation, but the molecular mechanisms leading to activation have yet to be discovered. In this study, we use high-resolution microscopy to characterize temporal changes of the P. vivax liver …

Challenges for Cryptosporidium Population Studies

Donna Huber on June 10, 2021

Cryptosporidiosis is ranked sixth in the list of the most important food-borne parasites globally, and it is an important contributor to mortality in infants and the immunosuppressed. Recently, the number of genome sequences available for this parasite has increased drastically. The majority of the sequences are derived from population studies of Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium hominis, the most …

Calcium signaling through a Transient Receptor Channel is important for Toxoplasma gondii growth

Donna Huber on June 9, 2021

Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels participate in calcium ion (Ca2+) influx and intracellular Ca2+ release. TRP channels have not been studied in Toxoplasma gondii or any other apicomplexan parasite. In this work we characterize TgGT1_310560, a protein predicted to possess a TRP domain (TgTRPPL-2) and determined its role in Ca2+ signaling in T. gondii, the causative agent of toxoplasmosis. TgTRPPL-2 …

Diet-Microbiota Interactions Alter Mosquito Development

Donna Huber on June 8, 2021

Gut microbes and diet can both strongly affect the biology of multicellular animals, but it is often difficult to disentangle microbiota-diet interactions due to the complex microbial communities many animals harbor and the nutritionally variable diets they consume. While theoretical and empirical studies indicate that greater microbiota diversity is beneficial for many animal hosts, there …

Dennis Kyle Featured Guest on People, Parasites & Plagues Podcast

Donna Huber on June 7, 2021

Dr. Dennis Kyle, director of CTEGD and professor in the departments of cellular biology and infectious diseases, is the featured guest on Episode 5 of the People, Parasites & Plagues Podcast. He talks about a deadly disease caused by Naegleria fowleri, also known as the brain-eating amoeba. The podcast is also available at Amazon, iTunes, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, Audible, and TuneIn People, Parasites …

Trypanosoma cruzi Letm1 is involved in mitochondrial Ca 2+ transport, and is essential for replication, differentiation, and host cell invasion

Donna Huber on June 7, 2021

Leucine zipper-EF-hand containing transmembrane protein 1 (Letm1) is a mitochondrial inner membrane protein involved in Ca2+ and K+ homeostasis in mammalian cells. Here, we demonstrate that the Letm1 orthologue of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, is important for mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and release. The results show that both mitochondrial Ca2+ influx and efflux are reduced in …

Author: Donna Huber