Research
Research Interest 1
My research plans in the immediate and long-term are based on recent research into cell surface gene families of parasite genomes. Genes expressed on the surfaces of parasites are instrumental to the host-pathogen interaction, frequently employed in antigenic variation and therefore are usually the most dynamic features of parasite genomes. Making sense of the enormous diversity and atypical evolution of these important features has formed the core of my recent work in Trypanosoma, Leishmania, Plasmodium, Candida and other parasites. In particular, I have discovered a recent contraction in genetic variation in the Human parasite Trypanosoma brucei that has resulted in increased recombination among its variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) genes. The task now is to apply my knowledge of reference genomes to molecular variation in the field, studying VSG evolution across populations and timescales to understand the importance of antigenic diversity to the severity and epidemiology of disease.
Research grants
Antisense inhibition to study Bodo saltans – Bodobacter symbiosis
GORDON AND BETTY MORE FOUNDATION (USA)
May 2020 - May 2024
2014 allocation - Wellcome ISSF non clinical fellowships
WELLCOME TRUST (UK)
May 2015 - October 2018
New approaches to a livestock trypanosomiasis vaccine: targeting the bite-site by immunization with novel metacyclic-stage parasite antigens
BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2018 - August 2022
Rethinking ‘impossible’: creating a platform for developing novel vaccines against animal trypanosomiasis in Brazil
BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL
December 2018 - April 2020
Genomic analysis of antigenic diversity in Brazilian Trypanosoma vivax strains
BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL
August 2018 - February 2019
Variant antigen profiling: a novel genomic tool for diagnosis and surveillance of animal African trypanosomiasis
BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL
February 2016 - February 2019
A Collaborative Initiative to Develop Animal Trypanosomiasis Vaccines in Brazil
BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL
July 2018 - June 2020
Molecular genetics of farm animal protozoa
ROYAL THAI EMBASSY
September 2012 - August 2015
Bench fees for Alessandra Romero Ramirez
PRESIDENCIA DEL CONSEJO DE MINISTROS (PERU)
September 2016 - September 2020
Challenging trypanosome antigenic variation paradigms using natural systems
WELLCOME TRUST (UK)
April 2018 - October 2024
An Analytical Tool to Transform Genomic Approaches to Nagana
BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION (USA)
November 2013 - April 2015
Inside the Trojan horse: systematics of Acanthamoeba spp. and their endosymbionts
LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON (UK)
June 2012 - June 2014
Evolutionary genomics of free-living and parasitic amoebae
LEVERHULME TRUST (UK)
August 2014 - July 2017