Sophia Parks successfully defended her thesis on parasitic nematode effectors. She is thrilled to begin her postdoctoral research in the Amieva lab at Stanford this month! Congratulations!
Sophia Graduates!
Study on Parasitic Nematode FAR Proteins published
Sophia’s study on FAR proteins modulating host immunity was published in PLoS Pathogens. This was a collaborative effort with the University of Victoria, UC San Diego, and Naoki Yamanaka’s lab here at UCR. This represents the first paper that we have published on a specific nematode protein effector. It’s also the first published collaboration with Naoki Yamanaka, Omar Akbari, and Marty Boulanger. Hopefully more to come!
Sophia Parks Honored as Stanford Propel Scholar
Graduate student Sophia Parks has accepted a position as a postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Manuel Amieva’s lab at Stanford University. In addition, she was selected to be one of the inaugural Propel Scholars, a newly formed Postdoctoral Scholar program at Stanford University’s School of Medicine (https://propel.stanford.edu/scholars/). Sophia begins her postdoctoral appointment in January.
Jake Schurkman Honored by ASP
Congratulations to Jake, for receiving the Meritorious Student Paper Award at this year’s American Society of Parasitologists meeting. Jake presented on his work describing a new species of Tarantobelus, which is a new nematode parasite of tarantulas. Way to go Jake!
Jumping, Effectors, and Gastropods
Like many labs, we were effectively shutdown for 3 full months in 2020 and have gradually been resuming full research activity as restrictions have decreased. So far this year, we published our first study of nematode effectors, where Sophia Parks and colleagues have illustrated the immunosuppressive potential of nematode FAR proteins. Jake Schurkman published an excellent review of EPN-Gastropod interactions. And Adler Dillman managed to publish data obtained in his graduate studies showing that EPNs jump with greater velocity and acceleration than previously reported. The high-speed videos of nematode jumping have finally been published.
We look forward to the characterization of many more nematode effectors, with studies of sPLA2 and ShKT-domain-containing proteins in the pipeline.
Nematode Effectors
In collaboration with the Nair lab, a new review on virulence and immunomodulatory effectors from parasitic nematodes was published. Congratulations to Sarah Bobart and Meera Nair!
Outstanding Investigator Award
Dr. Dillman has been awarded an Outstanding Investigator Award (R35) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This represents the first five-year award granted to the Dillman lab and will allow the lab increased flexibility in pursuing health-related research. The $1.8 million was awarded in support of the overall research program of the lab rather than a specific project. With the support the lab will move forward in studying host-parasite interactions and how nematode venom influences host biology.
Genes and Neurons Involved in C. elegans’ Response to Prenol
Dr. Tiffany Baiocchi, a former graduate student that is now an assistant professor at Lassen County Community College, just published the final chapter of her doctoral thesis in GENETICS. The new paper represents a Herculean effort by Tiffany and many of the undergraduates she trained. Six of her trainees share authorship on the paper. Paul Sternberg and members of his lab at Caltech were also instrumental in completing essential experiments for this project. This project was a follow-up on Tiffany’s previous work identifying prenol as an odor associated with EPN-infected insects. Her latest paper explores the neurons and genetic pathways involved in the detection and response to prenol by C. elegans. Congratulations Tiffany and all those involved!
EPN Behavior in Pluronic Gel
Efforts in studying EPN behavior over the last 60 years have primarily relied on assays done in sand, soil or agar. Pluronic gel (PF127) media, which has been used to study other nematodes, has only recently been employed to study EPN behavior. In collaboration with Chunjie Li from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, we explored the value of using pluronic gel as a means of studying EPN behavior.
Collaborative NIH Grant Awarded
Congratulations to Dr. Meera Nair and her lab on their recent NIH grant focused on how RELM-α-expressing macrophages mediate host disease tolerance in mucosal infection. The proposed work will be done in collaboration with the Nordgren and Dillman labs at UCR. We’re excited to be spending more time working with the rat parasite Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. We’re also pleased to be extending our collaborative work with Dr. Nair and her lab; this is the third NIH-funded study that we will be working on with Dr. Nair.
(https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2020/05/21/scientists-study-how-lungs-respond-worm-infections).
