Position Title
Associate Professor
- Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Research Interests
We focus on how the parasite Entamoeba histolytica causes disease in the human host. E. histolytica is a parasitic amoeba and the cause of amoebiasis, a potentially lethal diarrheal disease. E. histolytica has potent cell-killing activity that is likely to cause tissue damage during infection. We discovered that, surprisingly, E. histolytica kills human cells by biting them in a process called trogocytosis (trogo-: nibble). In another twist, we found that trogocytosis also allows E. histolytica to acquire and display human cell membrane proteins. By displaying human proteins, E. histolytica appears to become “cloaked” and to resist being killed by the complement pathway, a key part of innate immunity to infection.
Beyond E. histolytica, trogocytosis is part of a burgeoning theme in eukaryotic biology. There is mounting appreciation that many eukaryotic organisms perform cell nibbling, and that it might be a fundamental process. In addition to its function in cell killing, in other organisms, trogocytosis functions in cell-cell remodeling and cell-cell communication. Our work is expected to improve understanding of eukaryotic trogocytosis, and is thus broadly relevant to conserved mechanisms for eukaryotic cell-cell interaction.
An additional focus of our work is improving the genetic tractability of E. histolytica. Currently, genetic tools are limited. We established forward genetics in E. histolytica by creating the first genome-wide RNAi knockdown mutant library. In these studies, and other ongoing projects, we are improving the genetic toolkit and enabling modern approaches in this understudied parasite.
- 2001 B.S. in Genetics, University of California, Davis
- 2009 Ph.D. in Microbiology, University of California, Los Angeles