Hisham Alrubaye & Leah Cabo to speak

Hisham Alrubaye & Leah Cabo- Boyle Lab 

Beyond the vacuole space: Identifying Toxoplasma gondii host targeting effectors using a bioinformatic approach- Hisham Alrubaye

Toxoplasma gondii is a highly successful intracellular parasite that can infect nearly all warm-blooded animals, including humans. During the course of infection, T. gondii releases an arsenal of parasite effector proteins into the host to manipulate host signaling pathways and transcriptional regulation to promote parasite survival. Despite the importance of these virulence effector genes, only handful have been identified. Most genes involved in virulence have been identified using classical genetics involving genetic crosses between multiple strains of T. gondii that vary in their virulence phenotypes. While this approach has been successful at identifying many strain-specific effectors, it fails to identify CORE virulence factors that are conserved between these T. gondii strains. To address this limitation, I am adopting a bioinformatic approach based on gene expression correlation across multiple public RNA-seq datasets to identify a subset of T. gondii candidate virulence effector genes that may be key virulence determinants during infection

Determining the impact of Toxoplasma gondii infection on placental trophoblast development- Leah Cabo 

As a member of the TORCH group of congenitally transmitted pathogens, Toxoplasma gondii is a considerable burden to pregnant individuals and their unborn fetuses. During infection, T. gondii and closely related pathogens are known to manipulate host cell growth and development. The placenta, the site of T. gondii transmission during pregnancy, consists of three subtypes of specialized trophoblasts: progenitor cytotrophoblasts (CT), differentiated syncytiotrophoblasts (ST), and differentiated extravillous trophoblasts (EVT). Proper balance of these trophoblast populations is essential for maintenance of placental physiology throughout pregnancy. These cells also make up the site of interface between fetal and maternal tissue where T. gondii is eventually transmitted. The particular dynamics and timing of T. gondii infection in these placental trophoblasts have yet to be mapped out completely. Upon Toxoplasma gondii infection of progenitor cytotrophoblasts the transcripts of genes related to placental development and extracellular matrix assembly or organization pathways are significantly increased. I hypothesize that T. gondii infection influences placental cytotrophoblast differentiation. My proposed work will determine if T. gondii infection drives trophoblast development, if that development is lineage biased towards ST or EVT, and if resulting perturbations in the normal proportion of these cell types in the placenta lead to the aberrant pregnancy outcomes associated with congenital toxoplasmosis.

Friday, August 21, 2020

12:10 PM

A219B or via Zoom 

Date

21 Aug 2020

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