Treating Mosquitoes: Innovative Ways to Combat Malaria – People, Parasites, and Plagues podcast
Assistant Professor Doug Paton is the featured guest on this episode of the People, Parasites, and Plagues podcast. He discusses his groundbreaking work on a new way to treat malaria.
In the News: Rick Tarleton
Researchers secure funding to advance Chagas disease research (News-Medical.net)
Investigators are studying Chagas disease with a One Health approach (DVM360)
UGA and Texas A&M Researchers tackle Chagas disease in dogs and humans (WUGA)
Countable Labs Launches Single-Molecule DNA Counting System, PCR Application (GenomeWeb)
UGA biochemists create new tool to study biological process in parasites
Researchers in the University of Georgia’s West Laboratory are interested in how unicellular parasites thrive in their environments. Focusing on post-translational modifications of proteins, particularly a crucial process called glycosylation, researchers are gaining insights into how this basic life process in parasites can lead to better treatments for diseases.
Led by Distinguished Research Professor Christopher West, the team focuses on Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that causes a chronic infection known as toxoplasmosis, and Dictyostelium discoideum, a soil-dwelling social amoeba commonly known as a cellular slime mold. Dictyostelium is an unrelated non-pathogenic model organism with a relatively simple life cycle, making it ideal for laboratory research.
Their colleagues at Boston University, Giulia Bandini and John Samuelson, discovered that dozens of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins in Toxoplasma are unusually modified by a single sugar called fucose. There were potential parallels with a similar modification of host cell proteins with the key difference being the sugar involved-called GlcNAc, which is important for mediating host cell stress responses.
“This unprecedented finding raised new questions after we found that a similar process occurred in Dictyostelium,” said West, Distinguished Research Professor in Franklin College of Arts and Science’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
When the West lab identified the gene responsible for attaching O-fucose, the door was opened to study its function when it was knocked out in Toxoplasma and Dictyostelium.
“Though the cells still lived, both grew more slowly,” said West, a member of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases. “The evidence indicated that several important proteins were less abundant, which consequently compromised their activity in cells.”
O-fucose is difficult to detect through traditional methods, which impedes learning more about its roles. To address this need, Megna Tiwari, a recently graduated biochemistry Ph.D. student in the West Lab, got together with Ron Orlando at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and GlycoScientific LLC to generate antibodies that only bind O-fucose on proteins. Her recent study published in mSphere illustrates the power of these antibodies to find and isolate O-fucose in the cell.
“Remarkably, dozens of new proteins were found to bear O-fucose and the images indicate that majority of them appear to be enriched at the nuclear periphery, inviting new ideas for O-fucose at this location,” West said.
This story was originally published at UGA Research https://research.uga.edu/news/uga-biochemists-create-new-tool-to-study-biological-process-in-parasites/
Scientists use ‘One Health’ model to fight Chagas disease
Supported by almost $4 million in new funding, researchers at the University of Georgia and Texas A&M are using improved detection and treatment methods to understand Chagas disease, a serious, often overlooked illness affecting both dogs and humans.
A team of researchers at the University of Georgia and Texas A&M University has received more than $4 million from federal and nongovernmental organizations to support research on Chagas disease.
The research will consist of multiple projects focused on the disease’s prevalence, diagnostics to detect the parasite that causes the disease, and treatment protocols to prevent infection and disease in dogs. The ultimate goal is to use the findings to help people as well.
Funded by a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, UGA’s Rick Tarleton will co-lead a project focused on strategies to detect, treat and monitor treatment outcomes in dogs in Texas. The goal is to establish the best practices that prevent the development of cardiac disease, one severe potential side effect of Chagas disease, and to establish resistance to possible future infection.
The researchers will work with dogs that were naturally infected with Chagas disease. Because the disease presents similarly in dogs as in humans, dogs are a good model for examining the effectiveness of the treatment.
“There are a number of important questions related to treatment efficacy and the protection that cured subjects have from future infection that cannot be easily addressed in humans but can be in these dog populations that are under intense transmission pressure in Texas,” said Tarleton, Regents Professor in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
A growing threat to dog, human health
Tens of millions of people across the Americas have Chagas disease.
Chagas disease is a largely neglected disease. The parasite that causes it, Trypanosoma cruzi, is spread by blood-sucking insects known as kissing bugs, which can be found throughout North, Central and South America.
The disease, which commonly develops in humans and dogs, as well as many other mammals, often goes unnoticed in early stages. But a chronic infection can lead to serious heart and digestive system problems, making early diagnosis and prompt treatment important.
Although most human cases of Chagas disease are reported from South and Central America and Mexico, the parasite and its insect vector are found in abundance in the southern United States. Outdoor pets — particularly working dogs — face especially high risks of infection.
“These areas we are working in have 20% to 30% rates of new infections per year,” Tarleton said. “Those tend to be severe infections where the dogs either die or develop a disease that makes them unable to work.”
Texas has become a hotspot of kissing bugs.
“Unfortunately, Texas has emerged as a hotspot of infected kissing bugs, infected wildlife and infected dogs across the landscape,” said Dr. Sarah Hamer, a professor in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and a primary investigator on the projects.
“These projects will advance Chagas disease research to understand the process of natural infections, disease and effect of treatments,” Hamer said. “These projects combine many aspects of biomedical research. We’re conducting field and laboratory research, treating dogs, measuring clinical outcomes and studying ecological factors. It’s truly a ‘One Health’ approach.”
A One Health approach to Chagas disease research
Diagnosing Chagas is complicated — in both people and canines. False negatives aren’t unheard of, leading people to not know they or their pets are infected. And that delays treatment.
Even when the disease is diagnosed promptly, treating the condition can be challenging.
The go-to medications used to treat Chagas, as currently applied, are not reliably effective. But they’re currently the only treatment option. Tarleton’s previous work in mice and other species show that their effectiveness can be improved by altering the dosing regimen.
To address these issues, the researchers will track infected canines using a combination approach with sensitive tests to detect both the parasite DNA and the body’s response to infection. The team will simultaneously test a revised dosing strategy for the current antiparasitic treatment, providing fewer but high-level doses and extending the administration period to improve effectiveness.
Recording health information from such a large population of dogs will hopefully help us understand why the disease develops in different ways.” —Dr. Sarah Hamer, Texas A&M
“The drug we’re using is an existing treatment for Chagas disease in humans,” said Dr. Ashley Saunders, a professor in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and a primary investigator on the projects. “But Dr. Tarleton has shown that the parasites aren’t susceptible to this drug when they’re dormant. By changing the drug delivery protocol to dosing over a longer period of time, when the dormant parasites become active again, they are killed by the drug.”
In a related study funded by the United States Department of Homeland Security, the researchers will also monitor DHS-owned working dogs that are often trained in areas where Chagas disease is prevalent. The goal is to understand how the dogs are exposed to the disease as well as the impacts it can have on the canines’ heart health, as well as to develop monitoring and treatment strategies for these working dogs.
“One of the reasons that monitoring dogs is so helpful is because Chagas disease can produce so many different subsets of health problems,” Saunders said. “Some dogs end up with a heart abnormality, but a large number continue living and working happily for many years. Others will die quite suddenly, before anyone knew they had the disease.”
“Recording health information from such a large population of dogs will hopefully help us understand why the disease develops in different ways,” Hamer said.
Advancing canine Chagas disease management
With continued support from the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation, the team will treat and monitor individual pet dogs brought to Texas A&M’s Small Animal Teaching Hospital while developing a staging system for Chagas disease in dogs.
“The staging system we develop will help us to categorize the severity of disease, making it easier to determine which dogs will benefit most from drug treatment,” Saunders said. “This scoring system will work hand-in-hand with our improved diagnostic and treatment plan.”
This story was originally published at UGA Today: https://news.uga.edu/scientists-use-one-health-model-to-fight-chagas-disease/
Chet Joyner receives Fred C. Davison Early Career Scholar Award
Chester Joyner, assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s infectious diseases department and member of CTEGD, is integrating molecular biology, immunology and vaccine development to develop new therapies needed to treat and prevent malaria. His work addresses some of the biggest challenges in the field by studying Plasmodium vivax dormancy in the liver, investigating why malaria infections fail to generate long-lived immune responses and leading the preclinical testing of an innovative vaccine strategy that counteracts the parasite’s ability to inhibit development of long-lived immunity. Through these studies, his lab has overcome one of malaria’s greatest challenges: the inability to genetically manipulate P. vivax in the lab, developing novel techniques to introduce genetic modifications into P. vivax and opening new avenues for biology and vaccinology. Joyner has secured more than $7.3 million in research funding, authored 30 peer-reviewed publications and been invited to share his work at major international conferences. His work is shaping the future of malaria treatment and eradication strategies.
Originally published in Columns as part of their Honors Week coverage: https://news.uga.edu/2025-research-awards/
Hypnozoites: World’s Best Nappers – People, Parasites, and Plagues podcast
Assistant Professor Chet Joyner is the featured guest on the People, Parasites, and Plagues podcast. Listen as they discuss his research with Plasmodium vivax and the curious nature of its dormant liver stage.
Jessica Kissinger named 2025 University Professor
CTEGD faculty member Jessica Kissinger earned the distinction of University Professor, a title bestowed on those who have made a significant impact on the university in addition to fulfilling their regular academic responsibilities.
An integral voice on the university’s 2020 and 2025 strategic planning committees, Kissinger has championed initiatives designed to move UGA into the ranks of the world’s elite research universities. The recommendations developed by Kissinger and her colleagues helped lay the groundwork for strategic faculty hiring initiatives that have attracted leading researchers and scholars to UGA and new programs that have increased graduate student enrollment and support for graduate students.
“In a nutshell, I am a strategist and problem solver with a vision, who has worked hard to make UGA better for all,” she said.
Kissinger’s impact on the university includes her service as a member of the university’s Goldwater Selection Committee since 2015, and as a standing member of the Committee for Fellowships and Awards in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She has also provided valuable guidance to senior leadership as a member of the Provost’s Working Group on Centers and Institutes and the Digital Infrastructure Development Committee.
Kissinger is a founding member of UGA’s Institute of Bioinformatics, a group dedicated to facilitating interdisciplinary research in bioinformatics and computational biology and its applications. Under her leadership as director from 2011-2019, the institute grew to include faculty from four colleges and more than 45 graduate students. The institute unifies the exploration of genomics and bioinformatics on campus and provides graduate training in a setting that melds the two disciplines unlike many bioinformatics programs in the U.S.
The success of the Georgia Advanced Computing Resource Center, a high-performance computing and networking infrastructure for UGA researchers, can also be linked to Kissinger’s leadership. She was part of a team that established UGA’s first centralized high-performance computing cluster, and she was a tireless advocate for expanding these resources for researchers across campus. Additionally, she encouraged the GACRC to provide centralized storage and she supported the early adoption of graphical processing units, or GPUs, the driving computational power behind artificial intelligence computing.
Kissinger has been recognized many times for research and leadership. She is a recipient of the Creative Research Medal, the Lamar Dodd Creative Research Award, the Faculty Excellence in Diversity Leadership Award and the Richard F. Reiff Internationalization Award, all presented by UGA. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Most recently, she was awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award to teach and conduct research at Makerere University in Uganda.
University Professors receive a permanent salary increase of $10,000 and a yearly academic support of $5,000. Nominations from the deans of UGA’s schools and colleges are reviewed by a committee, which makes a recommendation to the provost.
Full story is available at https://news.uga.edu/carmichael-kissinger-named-2025-university-professors/
The Life & Times of the SchistoKid – People, Parasites, and Plagues podcast
Professor Emeritus Daniel Colley is the featured guest on the People, Parasites, and Plagues podcast. Learn more about his time spent with the CDC, becoming the director of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases at UGA, and the research abroad that sparked his passion for schistosomes in this episode.