CTEGD Blog Archives - Page 13 of 26 - Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases

Trainee Spotlight: Anat Florentin

Donna Huber on May 30, 2018

trainee Anat Florentin

Anat Florentin, a post-doctoral associate in Vasant Muralidharan‘s laboratory, is originally from Israel. She received her BSc degree from Tel-Aviv University and MSc from the Weizmann Institute of Science. She obtained her Ph.D. also from the Weizmann Institute where she studied programmed cell death mechanisms using the fruit fly as a model organism. Dr. Florentin moved to the United States 4 years ago when she joined the Muralidharan Research Group. During her time at UGA, she has received a number of awards in recognition of her research:

American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018-2020)
Postdoctoral Research Award, UGA Office of Research (2018)
Foreign travel award, UGA Office of Research (2018)
Best Poster Presentation award at the UGA GSPS Research Day (2016)
Best Postdoctoral Poster award at the 2015 UGA Conference on Drug Discovery (2015)

Why did you choose UGA?

Since my background is in basic cell biology and genetics, I knew very little of the biology of parasites but was determined to study malaria. While I was looking into different places in Europe and the US, I met with another Israeli, Lilach Sheiner who, at the time, was doing her postdoctoral training with Dr. Boris Striepen at UGA. She told me very good things of CTEGD and of a great newly recruited faculty who studies malaria. I came for a visit, and was impressed by the engaging scientific community, the super friendly atmosphere and the variety of different parasites and approaches to study tropical neglected diseases. I am so glad I made this decision!

What is your research focus/project and why are you interested in the topic?

The goal of my research is to understand the unique cell biology of malaria parasites and to identify potential drug targets. In order to do that I develop and apply genetic and molecular tools that are used to manipulate the genome of the parasite. During my years in the lab I was involved in several projects; One of them studies mechanisms by which the parasite transports proteins into the host red blood cell. Another interesting project focuses on a conserved complex from bacterial origin that resides within a unique parasite organelle called the apicoplast. Lastly, I am looking for genes that might be involved in programmed cell death processes in the parasites.

What are your future professional plans?

I want to establish my own research lab, conduct independent research and train the next generation of future scientists.

Have you done any field work or is there a collaborator/field site that you would like to visit in order to enhance your training?

Although we use field samples in our studies, I have never been to any field site, and would absolutely love to visit one. I am positive it will enhance my training and will add another layer to the work that I am doing. I am sure that visiting any field site in a malaria endemic area, such as Africa or Southeast Asia would be an enriching experience that would underline the significance of our work.

What is your favorite thing about UGA and Athens, GA?

Many things… At CTEGD I cherish the collaborative atmosphere, the variety of parasitism-related topics, the strong basic science that goes together with field studies and translational research. I am highly appreciative of the fact that I have access to a huge amount of knowledge by working side by side with top experts in these fields.

Athens is also great. Moving here in 2014 with a family of 2 young kids couldn’t go smoother! We found here a great community of friends, great public schools, and amazing nature. I love the mountains, the trees and the wildlife around us!

Any advice for students interested in this field?

There is still so much to do and learn in the field of parasitology and every discovery that you make may impact the life of the millions that suffer from these diseases. Don’t hesitate if you don’t know much about parasites. No matter what your background is, you can use the tools and knowledge that you acquired and apply them to this challenging but rewarding research!

Your financial gift to the CTEGD Fund helps provide field research opportunities to trainees like Anat Florentin through The CTEGD Training Innovations in Parasitological Studies Fellowship.

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Silvia Moreno named Corresponding Member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences

Donna Huber on May 16, 2018

Silvia Moreno

Silvia Moreno was recently named Corresponding Member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences. She is a distinguished research professor in the department of cellular biology and also serves as director of CTEGD’s NIH-funded Training Grant in Interdisciplinary Parasitology, Vector Biology, Emerging Diseases. Her research team works with Toxoplasma gondii, an apicomplexan parasite that infects almost one-third of the world population.

The Academia de Ciencias de América Latina, created in 1982 under the sponsorship of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, promotes and contributes to the advancement of mathematical, physical, chemical, earth, and life sciences, and to their application to the development and integration of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Academy promotes cooperation among scientific institutions and the exchange of persons and scientific knowledge for the integration of Latin American and the Caribbean; studies of sciences policy that contribute to the stable and continuous development of the countries of Latin American and the Caribbean; science at different educational levels and among the entire population.

Silvia Moreno named Distinguished Research Professor

Donna Huber on April 30, 2018

Silvia J. Moreno, a professor in the cellular biology department and director for the NIH Training Grant in Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, is recognized for her studies on calcium signaling in parasitic protozoa.

Her work defined the link between calcium signaling and pathogenesis of infectious organisms. Her research focuses on Toxoplasma gondii, a pathogen that infects one-third of the world population. She and her team discovered mechanisms of calcium signaling in parasites and novel compartments that store calcium that are different from those present in mammalian cells. Her laboratory developed new genetic tools to study calcium that could be used for high-throughput assays to find new pharmacological agents for the potential treatment of parasitic diseases.

Based on another fundamental discovery from her lab, that Toxoplasma takes specific nutrients from its host, she proposed the development of therapeutics that combine host-encoded and parasite-encoded functions as a novel approach for chemotherapy.

Anat Florentin receives 2018 Postdoctoral Research Award

Donna Huber on April 23, 2018

Anat Florentin, a postdoctoral researcher in Vasant Muralidharan‘s laboratory at the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, studies molecular mechanisms that drive life stages of Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of parasite species that infect humans with malaria. During her exceptionally productive years at UGA, she has advanced two related areas of research to learn more about the functions of P. falciparum gene and metabolic pathways. First, she established a highly efficient, markerless system to create mutants more rapidly using the powerful CRISPR-Cas9-based genetic editing tool. Her data from this project was published in the high-impact journal mSphere. Second, she used the CRISPR-Cas9 tool to understand P. falciparum’s unique plastid known as the apicoplast, which harbors essential metabolic pathways for the parasite’s growth and whose biological processes could be ideal parasite-specific drug targets. This work has been recognized by multiple invitations to present her work and a first author publication in Cell Reports.

Created in 2011, the Postdoctoral Research Award recognizes the remarkable contributions of postdoctoral research scholars to the UGA research enterprise. The UGA Research Foundation funds up to two awards a year to current scholars.

28th Annual Molecular Parasitology & Vector Biology Symposium

Donna Huber on April 18, 2018

Join us on Thursday, April 26 for the 28^th Annual Molecular Parasitology & Vector Biology. We are expecting 200 researchers from 19 organizations to attend this day-long conference that features 12 talks, 59 poster presentations, and a fully catered lunch. The day will conclude with a keynote address from Patricia Johnson from UCLA’s Molecular Biology Institute.

Download Abstract Book

Schedule

8:15 am – Registration begins in front of Masters Hall

8:30 am – Poster set-up in Pecan Tree Galleria

9:00 am – Opening Remarks & Session I – Masters Hall

10:10 am – Break and Poster Viewing – Pecan Tree Galleria

10:50 am – Session II – Masters Hall

12:10 pm – Lunch in Ballroom & Poster viewing – Pecan Tree Galleria

1:30 pm – Session III – Masters Hall

2:30 pm – Break and Poster Viewing – Pecan Tree Galleria

3:00 pm – Session IV – Masters Hall

3:40 pm – Introduction of Keynote Speaker

View the schedule of presentations for the 28^th Annual Molecular Parasitology & Vector Biology Symposium.

Parking:

There is a parking deck next to the Georgia Center. Since it is Reading Day at UGA there should be plenty of space in the South Deck. However, the Carlton Street Deck is a short walk from the Georgia Center if additional parking is needed.

Speakers:

Speakers should receive an email with a link to a Dropbox folder to upload their presentation. Please upload your presentation before 8:00 am Thursday, April 26.

More information is available on our symposium page.

CTEGD Undergraduates Present at CURO Symposium

Donna Huber on April 9, 2018

David Peterson with undergraduate student

A number of undergraduates who have conducted research in CTEGD laboratories will be presenting their projects at the University of Georgia’s CURO Symposium on Monday, April 9 and Tuesday, April 10 at the Classic Center.

Oral Session 1 – Monday, April 9 11:15 – 12:05

Room I: Trisha Dalapati, Foundation Fellow, CURO Research Assistant, Effects of Plasmodium falciparum on Placental Expression of Inflammatory and Coagulation Factors (Julie Moore)

Room J: Logan Ballard, CURO Research Assistant, Developmental Changes in Extracellular Vesicles from
African Trypanosomes (Stephen Hajduk)

Oral Session 3 – Monday, April 9 1:25 – 2:15

Room G: Matthew Martinez, CURO Research Assistant, Evaluation of Proteins Secreted by Toxoplasma gondii (Drew Etheridge)

Poster Session – Monday, April 9 4:30 – 6:30

Poster #186: Rahul Abhijit Katkar, In vitro Expression of VAR2CSA DBL3x Binding Domains to Assess Receptor Binding (David Peterson)

Poster #188: Serah Achi Okeke, The Effect of Ivermectin on Different Strains of Caenorhabditis elegans (Adrian Wolstenholme)

Poster #248: Hannah Paige McQueen, CURO Research Assistant, Microscopy Analysis of Trypanosome Nanotubes and Extracellular Vesicles (Stephen Hajduk)

Poster #251: Margot Perrin Palmer, Developing a Diagnostic Test for African Trypanosomiasis:
A Study of Extracellular Vesicles Produced by African Trypanosomes (Stephen Hajduk)

Poster #252: Soroosh Parsa, CURO Research Assistant, Structural Studies of Gnt1 and its Potential Role in SCF Complex Formation (Christopher West)

Poster # 267: Arden Anne Farr, Foundation Fellow, Point Mutations in Kelch 13 and Artemisinin Resistance in Malaria Parasites (Vasant Muralidharan)

Poster #271: Caroline McElhannon, CURO Research Assistant, Memory Immune Response to T. cruzi Reinfection Requires Similar Activation Time as Primary Infection (Rick Tarleton)

Poster #272: Zehra Rahman, CURO Research Assistant, Standardization of an in vitro Culture of Plasmodium
falciparum CB132 Gametocytes to Evaluate Transmission into Anopheles stephensi (Dennis Kyle)

Poster #274: Dylon Stephens, CURO Research Assistant, Clp Family Proteins and their Biological Significance in Plasmodium falciparum (Vasant Muralidharan)

Poster #277: Georgia McClure Wilson, The First CRISPR/Cas9-base Reverse Genetic Screen in Trypanosoma cruzi (Rick Tarleton)

Oral Session 6 – Tuesday, April 10 11:00 – 12:15

Room C: Steven Carroll, Cell Division Cycle Regulates Kinetoplast Division (Kojo Mensa-Wilmot)

Room H: Sachi Shastri, CURO Honors Scholar, Investigating the Role of Inflammation and Hypercoagulation in Placental Malaria (Julie Moore)

CTEGD Newsletter: Fall 2017 – Winter 2018

Donna Huber on April 4, 2018

Spring flowers at Coverdell

It is spring in Athens and that is always an exciting time for the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases! We always look forward to our annual signature event, the Molecular Parasitology & Vector Biology Symposium. This year will mark the 28th edition of the meeting that brings together students, staff, postdocs, and research scientists from around the southeastern US to focus on the neglected tropical diseases caused by eukaryotic pathogens. This year the symposium will be held on April 26th at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education and will feature talks by students and postdocs from CTEGD and visitors from other universities. In particular, we are excited that Dr. Patricia Johnson, Professor of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics at UCLA will
present the Keynote Address. Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on the molecular and cellular biology of Trichomonas vaginalis, the cause of the most prevalent, non-viral, sexually transmitted infection worldwide. Please make plans to join us in Athens for the symposium.

As you will see in this edition of the CTEGD Newsletter, we have an exciting array of published studies, significant awards, and new grant funding that demonstrate the culture of excellence and scientific productivity by our center’s faculty, staff and students. In addition to multiple awards and recognitions for faculty and their research teams, I’m particularly proud of the spotlight focused on our pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees in this edition of the newsletter. Each of these trainees has exciting projects that they lead under the direction of our world-class faculty. Importantly, the CTEGD provides the robust scientific environment that is the venue for training this next generation of leaders in the fight against neglected tropical diseases caused by parasites.

We also have exciting news that our two core activities, the Biomedical Microscopy Core and the Cytometry Shared Resource Laboratory, are adding new instruments and capabilities that will support CTEGD as well as the broader UGA scientific community. We will highlight these new additions in our next newsletter once the instruments are installed. We thank Provost Pamela Whitten and Vice President for Research David Lee for supporting these core facilities with the new instrumentation.

Last but not least I want to thank the donors that provided support for CTEGD activities. All donations, no matter how small or large, help the CTEGD to achieve our mission of “Global Health Through Research.”

~ Dennis Kyle

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Honors student named 2018 Goldwater Scholar

Donna Huber on April 3, 2018

Trisha Dalapati

Trisha Dalapati, an undergraduate studying in Julie Moore’s laboratory, is among 211 students from across the nation to be recognized as Barry Goldwater Scholars, earning the highest undergraduate award of its type for the fields of the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.

Georgia institutions had a total of six Goldwater Scholars. UGA had the highest number with three and was joined by Berry College, Emory University and Spelman College, which had one scholar each. Guy Eroh and Stephan George are the other two UGA undergraduates receiving this honor.

Dalapati, a junior from Roswell, is majoring in anthropology and biochemistry and molecular biology and working toward a master’s degree in comparative biomedical sciences. She plans to obtain an M.D./Ph.D. in infectious diseases after graduating from UGA. As a translational medicine researcher, she intends to investigate disease pathogenesis to create diagnostic tools for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children.

She currently conducts cell and tissue culture work with Julie Moore, a professor of infectious disease and associate vice president for research, in Moore’s placental malaria lab. She also analyzes data remotely with Moses Batwala of the University of Oxford Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health.

In addition to her research, Dalapati is a Foundation Fellow, director of the Lunchbox Garden Project, a committee chair for the Model United Nations and a member of the Honors Program Student Council, Palladia Women’s Honor Society and Omicron Delta Kappa. Dalapati received the best poster award at the Emory STEM Symposium and is an Indian classical dancer.

“The university congratulates Trisha, Guy and Stephan on this outstanding achievement,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “Our newest Goldwater Scholars reflect the tremendous strength of our students as well as the commitment of exceptional faculty mentors who guide and teach them. I look forward to all that these amazing students will accomplish in the coming years.”

Since 1995, 56 UGA students have received the Goldwater Scholarship, all of whom have been members of the Honors Program.

The scholarship recognizes exceptional sophomores and juniors across the nation. This year, awardees were selected from a field of 1,280 undergraduates and were nominated by campus representatives from among 2,000 colleges and universities nationwide. They will receive up to $7,500 toward the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board.

Of this year’s Goldwater Scholars, 29 are mathematics and computer science majors, 142 are majoring in the natural sciences, and 40 are majoring in engineering. Many are majoring in a combination of mathematics, science, engineering and computer science.

“I am so thrilled for each of these students,” said David S. Williams, associate provost and director of the Honors Program, who serves as the UGA campus faculty representative for the Goldwater Scholarship. “All of them richly deserve recognition by the Goldwater Foundation for their hard work and research excellence. I think it speaks volumes that they came to UGA from across the country because they knew about the quality of our undergraduate research program and the strong support that faculty members provide to our students.”

The scholarship honoring Sen. Barry Goldwater was designed to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. Since its first award in 1989, the Foundation has bestowed 8,132 scholarships worth approximately $65 million.

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Writer: Stephanie Schupska, 706-542-4975, schupska@uga.edu

Contact: Jessica Hunt, 706-542-6206, jhunt@uga.edu

Study reveals key cause of treatment failure in Chagas disease

Donna Huber on March 29, 2018

Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered that dormancy of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi prevents effective drug treatment for Chagas disease, which kills more than 50,000 people each year in Central and South America and is a growing threat in the United States and Europe.

The disease infects an estimated 6 million to 7 million people, according to the World Health Organization, although some scientists estimate the number could be as high as 20 million. Chagas disease causing irreparable damage to the heart and digestive system, and effective prevention and treatment methods are virtually nonexistent.

Proliferating Tdtomato expressing Trypanosoma cruzi amastigotes dilute the violet dye staining while non-replicating dormant parasite in the same host cell retains the violet signal.

In a new study published in eLife, Rick Tarleton and his research team at the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases sought to determine why drug treatments such as benzimidazole frequently fail.

“Benzimidazole has been shown to be particularly effective in reducing parasite infection,” said Tarleton, Regents’ Professor in the department of cellular biology. “A single dose can eliminate nearly 90 percent of parasites within 48 hours, but we didn’t know why it didn’t kill 100 percent of the parasites.”

For the first time, they show that a small proportion of T. cruzi parasites halt replication within 24 hours of invading the host cell. These dormant parasites are resistant to extended drug treatment and can resume replication after treatment ends, thus re-establishing a growing infection.

The researchers don’t know why some of the parasites exhibit this behavior, but they are hopeful that future studies into this mechanism will shed more light on the way T. cruzi evades the host’s immune response.

“This isn’t drug resistance in the classical way we think of resistance,” said Tarleton. “The parasites aren’t dormant because of the presence of the drug.”

In fact, while treatment continued they saw some of the dormant parasites “wake up” and then become susceptible to the treatment. The team believes the key to effective treatment will be to catch the parasite as they resume replication, continuing medication until no parasites remain in the host.

“This discovery really offers a solution for current drugs to be used in a more effective way,” said Tarleton. “A longer, less concentrated dosing schedule could lead to a cure.”

T. cruzi lifecycle — Life cycle of Trypanosoma cruzi, the cause of Chagas disease (graphic by Lindsay Robinson

An online version of the study is available: https://elifesciences.org/articles/34039

Courtney Murdock’s Brazilian Collaboration Among Those Recognized

Donna Huber on March 21, 2018

Category: CTEGD Blog