UGA’s Lọla Fagbami, winner of a Burroughs Wellcome Fund 2022 Postdoctoral Diversity Enrichment Program fellowship, is a native of Lagos, Nigeria, who relocated to the United States with her family in the late 1990s. She is passionate about expanding scientific literacy through outreach and mentoring as well as refuting chemophobia—the fear of or aversion to chemicals and chemistry. (Photo by Lauren Corcino)
Fagbami, UGA’s first PDEP Fellow, conducts research on the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum at the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases. She works with Vasant Muralidharan, associate professor of cellular biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, who nominated her for the award.
“Dr. Fagbami has excellent training in metabolomics, mass spectrometry and Plasmodium drug discovery. Her exceptional work as a graduate student has shown how human malaria-causing parasites use metabolic adaptation to induce antimalarial drug resistance. Dr. Fagbami is a fearless, highly intelligent, accomplished and outstanding scientist who will be a leader in our field,” Muralidharan wrote in his nomination letter.
“Her research project addresses a major gap in the field that has enormous implications for malaria elimination and eradication efforts,” he added.
The PDEP award provides $60,000 over three years to support career-development activities for historically excluded minority postdoctoral fellows pursuing academic careers in biomedical or medical research, according to the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
“This award is an investment in me as a scientist and leader and will help advance my career to the next level,” Fagbami said. “I am excited to join the extraordinary community of PDEP scholars and also connect with program alumni who have successfully made the transition to research independence.”
Fagbami earned a B.S. in chemistry at Emory University, an M.B.S. and an M.P.H. in health policy at Rutgers University, and a Ph.D. in chemical biology at Harvard University.
Cassie Russell, a graduate student in the Department of Infectious Diseases, in her laboratory space. (Photo by Ian Bennett)
Cassie Russell, a graduate student in the Department of Infectious Diseases, was an undergraduate when she first heard of Naegleria fowleri, also known as the brain-eating amoeba. While whole lectures in her parasitology course had been dedicated to other parasites, N. fowleri was barely a mention.
“I remember maybe 15 minutes was spent on it,” said Russell. “I was shocked that was all that was known about this deadly organism.”
N. fowleri causes the acute neurological disease primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). There have been hundreds of reported cases of PAM, but only seven survivors worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Scanning electron microscopy image of Naegleria fowleri (submitted by Cassie Russell)
“I had the opportunity to speak with families in Florida who had lost someone to Naegleria fowleri infection,” she said. “The fear they had in not knowing what was wrong with their loved one and then learning that there was very little that could be done—their stories were just heartbreaking.”After arriving at UGA, Russell was pleased to find out that N. fowleri was one of the parasites being studied in Dennis Kyle’s laboratory at the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases.
Individuals, most commonly young children, become infected when they inhale warm freshwater contaminated with N. fowleri. This typically occurs during the late summer months when people are participating in recreational activities in rivers and lakes, but it can also occur when people use unsterilized tap water in nasal irrigation devices. It is more likely to occur in the southern United States, but infection is very rare. Between 2011 and 2020 only 33 cases were reported in the United States, according the CDC.
N. fowleri is one of the most neglected of the neglected tropical diseases. However, knowledge about the parasite has been growing since the 1960s as scientists build on new data and apply new technology. Russell is doing her part and was the lead on a study recently published in Microbiology Spectrum where, for the first time, drug susceptibility was tested across 11 clinical isolates.
“Current drug treatment is a cocktail of six different drugs,” said Russell. “However, only a few isolates have been tested in the lab for susceptibility. We don’t know if some drugs work better for different strains.”
A big question facing researchers is why these drugs show effectiveness in the lab when so few real-world cases have been successfully treated. Russell suspected that other factors were at play in treatment failure, such as genetic differences among geographically distinct amoeba populations.
The 11 isolates used in the study came from patients who contracted N. fowleri in different geographic regions. Russell found that these isolates had significant differences in susceptibility to seven of the eight drugs currently used to treat the infection.
The need for effective and fast-acting treatments is especially great. PAM is almost always fatal, with death occurring about a week after the initial onset of symptoms.
Doctors are racing against the clock as there is often a delay in diagnosis: The symptoms mimic meningitis, and N. fowleri is a rare infection. The drugs used can also be pretty toxic, so identifying the safest and most effective drug treatment could significantly improve outcomes.
Russell’s findings are another stepping stone to propel N. fowleri research toward increased understanding of this parasite and ultimately better treatments. For example, she realized that there is not a gold standard for genotyping.
“Researchers could be talking about genetically different isolates but not realize it,” said Russell.
In addition to creating a genotyping standard, she has identified combinational drug studies to test for synergism as a next step. For now, though, Russell is focusing on another need in the fight against N. fowleri—diagnostics.
“Awareness, improved diagnostic techniques and faster-acting drugs are needed to improve outcomes,” she said.
Justine Shiau, an NIH T32 fellow in Dr. Dennis Kyle’s laboratory, is originally from Taipei, Taiwan, and moved to the states after elementary school. She received her bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Pennsylvania State University, where she became interested in disease transmission, disease ecology, and parasitology while working with Dr. Ashutosh Pathak. Upon graduation, she moved to Athens to continue her training with Dr. Pathak, who at that time was working in the transmission ecology of vector-borne diseases with Dr. Courtney Murdock. Over the next two years, she took part in research projects revolving around vector biology and mosquito-transmitted pathogens. She was accepted by the UGA Integrated Life Science graduate program in Fall 2018.
In the Kyle lab, Justine is currently working on the transmission stages of Plasmodium falciparum, a human malaria parasite that causes significant mortality worldwide, specifically on the biology of the parasite transitioning from the vector to the human and the early stages within the human, prior to disease onset. She aims to complete the parasite’s life cycle in a laboratory setting, which would be a powerful tool to help further our understanding of the host-parasite interactions. She hopes to better understand the parasite biology and the transmission dynamic that the mosquitoes could have on the downstream infection in humans, which can potentially help us better understand and combat this horrible disease.
Why did you choose UGA?
UGA has one of the finest insectary facilities that allows the transmission of Plasmodium falciparum. Additionally, the Center of Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases (CTEGD) is the hub for parasitologists. The Center provides state-of-the-art infrastructure, research equipment, and, most of all, a supportive environment to cultivate and train graduate students to meet our goals.
What is your research focus?
Plasmodium falciparum is a parasite that causes malaria, which 50% of the world’s population is at risk of getting. Many children die from malaria every year; we cannot effectively prevent diseases and transmissions without a well-rounded understanding of the parasite’s biology and the essential players (mosquitoes) to complete its life cycle. My overarching goal is to complete the parasite’s life cycle in the lab. Currently, we are focusing on the biology of the parasite and its transition from mosquito back to human and within the human: from liver-to-blood stage infections. While doing this, there are two primary objectives that I would like to meet. First, I want to better understand the important factors for the parasites to establish infection in the human liver cells. Second, I am curious whether the mosquito stage infection can also impact the parasite’s efficiency in establishing infection in the human liver.
What are your future professional plans?
After graduate school, I hope to continue my postdoctoral training. I would like to pursue interdisciplinary research, with crosstalk between disease-ecology, parasitology, and vector biology.
Any advice for a student interested in this field?
Be open-minded and respectful to people with different expertise and people with diverse backgrounds.
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Benjamin Phipps is an NIH T32 trainee in Michael Strand‘s laboratory. Originally from Woodland, California, Benjamin earned his bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and biology and a minor in chemistry from the University of North Texas in May 2019. While at UNT, he studied the influence of mixed vehicle emissions on regulation of the renin-angiotensin system with Dr. Amie Lund and programmed translational frameshifts in Streptomyces bacteriophages with Dr. Lee Hughes. Benjamin earned research support and two travel grants to report his findings for his undergraduate projects. In August 2019, he enrolled in the Integrated Life Sciences (ILS) program at UGA and completed several laboratory rotations in parasitology before joining the Strand Research Group. He has served as treasurer of the Genetics Graduate Student Association and currently serves in that role for the CTEGD GSA.
Why did you choose UGA?
I chose UGA for its strong track record in research and breadth of research topics. I enrolled at UGA through Integrated Life Sciences, a gateway Ph.D. program that allows incoming students to explore several life sciences departments before choosing one for their dissertation home. This allowed me to experience a greater range of research topics than if I had enrolled directly in a single department. I also developed an interest in parasitology in the last year of my undergraduate program and therefore was drawn to CTEGD, one of the largest and most active centers for parasitology research in the world.
What is your research focus/project and why are you interested in the topic?
Many mosquito species must feed on vertebrate blood to produce eggs, and thereby can transmit several blood-borne pathogens of humans. Malaria is by far the deadliest of these, killing hundreds of thousands of people each year. Suppressing mosquito populations is an attractive approach to curbing transmission of malaria. Two promising targets for limiting mosquito reproductive capacity are the communities of microorganisms that reside in the mosquito gut, which are thought to influence fecundity by aiding blood digestion, and hormones mobilized in response to the blood meal that regulate egg formation. Malaria parasites have an antagonistic relationship with mosquito gut microbes and exploit resources generated for egg production after the blood meal. My dissertation project focuses on how mosquito gut microbes influence malaria infection by modulating reproductive signaling. This research has the potential to identify microbial species that might be exploited for malaria control, as well as elucidate important functions of gut microbes in preventing infections in animals.
What are your future professional plans?
I am presently most interested in a career in academia because I enjoy mentorship and science writing, but I remain open to other opportunities.
What do you hope to do for your capstone experience?
For my capstone experience, I would like to draw on my training in both parasitology and Spanish language to travel to Colombia or Venezuela, where malaria is declining but still endemic. Potential activities there would involve characterizing endemic anopheline populations and their vectorial capacity.
What is your favorite thing about UGA?
I really enjoy the collaborative atmosphere of life sciences at UGA. Groups such as CTEGD provide many opportunities to interact with students and faculty from diverse departments.
Any advice for a student interested in this field?
Be sure to get involved in research as soon as possible, preferably early in your undergraduate program. Reach out to professors whose work interests you, as well as members of their team. It’s fine not to know what specific topics you want to pursue right away; your initial research experience will help you determine what interests you most, and there will be many opportunities to explore diverse fields in graduate school and beyond.
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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 malaria outbreaks among the state’s General Assembly.
Later, the federal Office of Malaria Control in War Areas was established in Atlanta instead of Washington D.C. because of its proximity to malaria. The center was succeeded in 1946 by the Communicable Disease Center which is now the Centers for Disease Control. While Malaria was mostly eliminated in the U.S. by 1951, it still impacts millions of people around the globe. Cue Ale Villegas, a doctoral candidate in Cellular Biology.
Villegas and her advisor, Dr. Vasant Muralidharan, were recently awarded a Gilliam Graduate Fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The goal of the fellowship is to increase the diversity among scientists who are prepared to assume leadership roles in science. The program selects pairs of students and their dissertation advisers based on their scientific leadership and commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the sciences.
Villegas’s research is on the edge of the unknown. She works with Muralidharan in UGA’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases where they aim to understand the parasite that causes malaria.
“I’m exploring the mechanisms by which malaria parasites develop in human red blood cells,” said Villegas. “I am studying Plasmodium falciparum, the most common and deadly species that infects humans. These studies can inform therapeutic treatments in the future.”
PhD Candidate Ale Villegas. Villegas is in the cellular biology department. (Photo Courtesy of Ale Villegas)
Villegas specifically studies a malaria parasite glycosyltransferase or an enzyme that adds sugar molecules to other biomolecules. These enzymes may be needed by the parasite to survive and resist the immune response. There are few experts or studies in this area, but Villegas saw beyond those challenges to the critical importance of understanding malaria immune response.
“She is a very talented young scientist who has undertaken a challenging and high-impact research project,” said Muralidharan. “Her initial work was fraught with technical difficulties and setbacks, most of which are attributable to the difficulties in working with the hard-to-study malaria parasite. I am very impressed by her toughness and intellectual capacity as she solved one technical issue after another. She is now poised to move the field forward in a meaningful way.”
Villegas has also worked with Dr. Robert Haltiwanger and his graduate students in the Complex-Carbohydrate Research Center at UGA to advance her research. Haltiwanger is a leading expert on fringe-like glycosyltransferases like the enzyme she studies.
“Having Dr. Haltiwanger on campus is amazingly lucky,” said Villegas. “He and his graduate students go above and beyond when I need help or need to try out experiments. I’m glad to have access to his knowledge, experienced grad students, and sometimes his reagents!”
“What these parasite-derived sugar modifications are and how they form could inform a better vaccine or other drug therapies for malaria,” said Villegas.
Rings of P. falciparum in a thick blood smear. (Photo Courtesy of CDC)
Malaria still kills around 450,000 people each year. Most of these victims are children under the age of five. There are no effective vaccines and the parasite has gained resistance to all antimalarials currently in clinical use. Villegas’ research on this parasite sugar-adding enzyme could have important implications for future treatments and vaccine development.
The Gilliam Fellowship allows Villegas to pursue other passions in addition to science. She is a leader in student advocacy and devoted to helping students gain access to resources to advocate for themselves.
“I practice and promote student and self-advocacy by serving on the UGA Graduate Student Association and the student science policy group (SPEAR),” said Villegas. “With fellow SPEAR members, I have organized advocacy days workshops to empower students to advocate for themselves and issues they are passionate about.”
“I have found that those who are most successful understand failure very well,” said Muralidharan. “We need to normalize this. We are working to figure out the unknown. Failure in science is normal, and it is critical for discovery.”
Dr. Vasant Muralidharan’s lab utilizes molecular genetics, cell biology, and biochemistry to study the biological mechanisms driving the disease.
The award also provides funding for Muralidharan to develop mentoring skills and to share those skills with other faculty members at UGA. He has served as a mentor for many either first-generation or underrepresented students in STEM. He explains that scientists need strong support systems, especially when they experience failure in the lab. The people around them help the most.
When Villegas graduates, she hopes to continue working on and learning about science policy and advocacy. Her ideal job would allow her to be a scientist in addition to being an advocate for graduate students and a creator of equitable graduate education policies.
The Gilliam Graduate Fellowship provides Villegas an opportunity to move closer to her goals and to contribute to potentially life-saving research that could reduce the global threat of malaria.
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 things. Over time, I realized that biology was one of my favorite subjects, especially when it came to diseases. I decided to major in Biomedical Sciences at the Faculdade Anhanguera de Santa Bárbara D’Oeste (São Paulo, Brazil). After my graduation, I performed voluntary research training at the Laboratory of Bioenergetics of the Department of Clinical Pathology (School of Medical Sciences) of the State University of Campinas (Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil) under the supervision of Dr. Anibal Vercesi. Thereafter, I joined the Master’s program to continue my training as a scientist. There I met Dr. Roberto Docampo, who has collaborated with Dr. Vercesi for many years. Since then, I joined his research group, where Dr. Miguel Angel Chiurillo and Dr. Noelia Lander were also members of a very productive team, which has stimulated my fascination for research in parasitology. During my master’s, I was awarded a fellowship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) to perform a functional study of the regulatory subunits Mitochondrial Ca2+ Uptake 1 (MICU1) and 2 (MICU2) involved in calcium signaling in the parasite that causes Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi. My master’s project elucidated some questions and opened doors to interesting new topics, which our group is very excited to explain.
Why did you choose UGA?
I wanted to continue working with the same model to improve my scientific thinking and to complete my laboratory training, and the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases (CTEGD) at UGA has a wide range of researchers working with trypanosomes. Pursuing my Ph.D. at UGA is an extraordinary opportunity because of CTEGD’s unique infrastructure, which consists of extremely qualified professionals and resources that facilitate the development of research projects.
What is your research focus?
T. cruzi is one of the least well understood neglected tropical disease agents and current treatments remain inadequate partly due to a general lack of knowledge of this parasite’s basic biology. We are particularly interested in establishing the role and interaction between mitochondrial proteins involved in Ca2+ uptake in this organelle. Understanding the mechanisms of adaptation and survival of the parasite upon environmental challenges, as changes in concentration of free Ca2+, will lead to important insights into the biology of this parasite and the evolution of Ca2+ signaling in eukaryotic cells. Considering that disruption of Ca2+ homeostasis by toxic agents is related to the loss of cell viability, the identification of the possible differences in mitochondrial Ca2+ transport between these parasites and the host cells could be useful for the development of new chemotherapeutic agents against Chagas disease. The purpose of the AHA predoctoral fellowship is to enhance the training of students who intend to pursue careers as scientists aimed at improving global health and wellbeing, and I feel like I can contribute to this mission.
What are your future professional plans?
After my graduation from UGA, I hope to continue for a postdoctoral research position. In the future, I would like to establish a research group in Brazil using trypanosomatids as biological models for studying the structure and function of proteins.
Any advice for a student interested in this field?
Don’t be afraid to try new things and learn from it.
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Nathan Chasen is a post-doctoral fellow in Drew Etheridge’s laboratory (submitted photo)
Nathan Chasen, a postdoctoral fellow in Drew Etheridge’s laboratory, is originally from Richmond, Virginia. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Emory University, he worked as a research technician at UGA. He then decided to attend UGA for graduate school. Under the mentorship of Silvia Moreno, Chasen received two American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship Awards and earned his Ph.D. in December of 2017.
Why did you choose UGA?
I chose UGA because it is one of the best places in the world to study parasites for both the quality of the work and the collaborative research environment.
What is your research focus/project and why are you interested in the topic?
My current research focus is the poorly understood endocytic organelle of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is the causal agent of Chagas disease.
What are your future professional plans?
I plan to establish an academic lab that continues to unravel the nature of this neglected parasite, using state-of-the-art molecular tools and microscopy methods.
What is your favorite thing about UGA and Athens?
The area is a great low-cost living area, with little traffic and essentially everything you need within a 15-minute drive, including great food and a lively downtown area. The ability to live affordably within a short bike ride of campus is also a plus.
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Megna Tiwari is a second-year Ph.D. trainee in the laboratory of Diego Huet. She is originally from Newport Beach, California and completed her undergraduate degree in Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). While at UCR, she worked as an undergraduate researcher in the fungal genomics lab of Dr. Jason Stajich for 2 years and co-founded Women in STEM Engaging Riverside (WISER). After graduation, she worked as a blood bank lab technician at LifeStream Blood Bank where she screened for and routinely found blood samples positive for understudied pathogenic parasites. Her fascination with pathogenic parasites led her to seek a thesis-based Master of Science in Biology at California State University, Fullerton under the supervision of Dr. Veronica Jimenez. During this period, Megna worked on understanding the functional and structural relationship of mechanosensitive ion channels found in T. cruzi and cemented her passion for molecular parasitology.
Megna has been awarded a CTEGD T32 Training Fellowship. She currently serves as Vice-president of CTEGD’s Graduate Student Association and New Student Liaison for the Department of Cellular Biology’s Graduate Student Association.
Why did you choose UGA?
My master’s research in parasitology reaffirmed my passion for research in unconventional parasitic pathogens. Therefore, I applied for doctoral programs that would allow me to remain in the field of cell and molecular parasitology and the CTEGD at UGA was the perfect place for me to obtain the best possible training as a parasitologist.
What is your research focus/project and why are you interested in the topic?
The over-reaching research goal of the Huet lab is the investigation of the highly divergent metabolic adaptations of apicomplexans. My research interests in the lab have led me to study the role of the ATP synthase in the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii, the causative agent of toxoplasmosis. For my project, I am examining the role of apicomplexan-specific ATP synthase subunits and how they might contribute to the regulation of the ATP synthase function in the parasite.
What are your future professional plans?
Following graduation from UGA, I hope to continue on for a postdoctoral research position in parasitology.
What do you hope to do for your capstone experience?
For my capstone experience, I want to gain an outside perspective and understanding of foreign research culture that I can apply to my own research when I return to the CTEGD.
What is your favorite thing about UGA and/or Athens?
At the CTEGD, I love the collaborative nature. If I am trying to learn a new technique or understand new concepts, I am able to easily walk down the hall to a neighboring lab and get advice. In Athens, for entertainment, I love the endless craft beer scene and I love all the greenery and being able to hike gaps of the Appalachian trail!
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Melissa Sleda, a Ph.D. trainee is Silvia Moreno’s laboratory, is in her third year at UGA. She is originally from Sandusky, Michigan and attended Lawrence Technological University where she majored in Molecular and Cell Biology with a minor in Chemistry. At UGA, she has held positions as the Secretary for the Cell Bio Grad Student Association (2019-2020), and as Treasurer (2019-2020) and current President (2020-2021) of the CTEGD grad student association.
Melissa Sleda has been awarded a T32 Trainee Fellowship for the 2020-2021 academic year.
Why did you choose UGA?
I chose UGA because of the Integrated Life Sciences Umbrella program. As an incoming graduate student, I was not set on studying a particular organism, and I was excited for the opportunity to rotate in labs across different departments.
What is your research project?
My project seeks to characterize enzymes of the isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway in Toxoplasma gondii and to investigate these enzymes as potential chemotherapeutic targets. The current chemotherapy for Toxoplasmosis is ineffective because it does not eliminate the chronic stage of infection. My project seeks to test drugs that target enzymes of the isoprenoid pathway in both the acute and chronic forms of infection in order to find a more effective chemotherapy.
What are your future professional plans?
My future career goal is to stay in academia and become a professor at a smaller institution with a higher emphasis on teaching and leading smaller research projects. I want to help students at smaller universities gain research experience through classroom labs and one-on-one research projects.
What do you hope to do for your Capstone Experience?
For my capstone experience, I hope to be able to do research in another country to gain a wider perspective of how research is done in other countries. I hope that I am able to do research in a lab that I can learn new techniques that will translate into my research project.
What is your favorite thing about Athens?
My favorite thing about Athens is the warm weather and the great sense of community.
What advice do you have for students interested in this field?
Do things out of your comfort zone because it will help you develop as a scientist.
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T32 trainee Alona Botnar is entering her fifth year as a Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Dennis Kyle’s laboratory. She is from Doylestown, Pennsylvania and completed her B.S. in Chemistry with a minor in Biochemistry at the University of Georgia in 2015. During her undergraduate career, she also worked at Janssen, a pharmaceutical company of Johnson & Johnson as a Biologics R&D co-op.
As a graduate student, she was able to spend three semesters teaching Anatomy and Physiology labs here at UGA, and in 2019, she was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Instruction. She also received a graduate school travel award to attend the 2018 annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in New Orleans, Louisiana, and an Office for Vice President and Research travel award to attend the 2020 Molecular Approaches to Malaria meeting held in Lorne, Victoria, Australia.
Why did you choose UGA?
Having been at UGA for my undergraduate degree, I was already in love with UGA and Athens and all that they have to offer. I was attracted to the Integrated Life Sciences program because it gives incoming graduate students the freedom to explore a wide range of research topics among 14 different departments before choosing the lab they would ultimately like to join. Furthermore, I found the interdisciplinary approach of the program appealing. I love the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases because of all the resources available to us as scientists. Not only do we have state of the art microscopy and flow cytometry cores, but we also have very collaborative labs that are happy to share equipment, supplies, and expertise.
What is your research focus?
My research is focused on malaria and addressing significant problems at the stages of development at which the malaria parasite enters a drug-induced dormant period and evades the antimalarial. The mechanism by which the parasite enters drug-induced dormancy and later recrudesces to continue development is currently unknown.
Half the world’s population is at risk of malaria with about half a million people dying each year from it. A majority of these deaths are in children under the age of 5, located mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. While there are 5 species that can infect humans, Plasmodium falciparum is the most lethal and is responsible for a majority of the deaths. Our current arsenal of malaria drugs is failing at an alarming rate as drug-resistant strains of the parasite continue to emerge.
Thus I chose this research project because it is vital that we respond to the challenge of antimalarial drug resistance by not only developing novel drugs but also by understanding the mechanisms the parasite is using to evade the drugs.
What are your future career goals?
I plan on continuing my work in the field of infectious diseases. I am leaning towards industry research but I’m keeping an open mind. Lately, I have been interested in alternative careers available to life science Ph.D.’s such as consulting and being a medical science liaison.
What is your favorite thing about UGA?
UGA football. There’s nothing quite like a fall Saturday in Athens between the hedges. GO DAWGS!
Do you have any advice for a student interested in this field?
It’s never too early or too late to get into the field. Don’t be afraid to send those emails and get involved in research. And always ask questions.
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