Project description:Transcriptome profiling of pyrethroid resistant field populations of Anopheles funestus across Uganda and neighboring Kenya from Uganda and Kenya compared to a susceptible lab strain FANG
Project description:By unbiased deep sequencing, we identified a novel, highly divergent polyomavirus, provisionally named MX polyomavirus (MXPyV), in stool samples from children. From Mexico, 12 samples (out of 96) were positive for MxPyV by MXPyV-specific PCR. We used the ViroChip microarray and PCR to screen these 12 samples for co-infection with common diarrheal viruses. Six of 12 MxPyV-positive diarrheal samples tested negative by the ViroChip and PCR, and the other 6 samples were positive for at least one known diarrheal virus. The ViroChip microarray (version 5.0, Viro5AG-60K platform, GPL15905) was used to screen RNA extracts from MX polyomavirus (MXPyV)-positive pediatric diarrheal samples from Mexico for common diarrheal viruses.
Project description:Marine pelagic larvae from throughout the animal kingdom use a hierarchy of environmental cues to identify a suitable benthic habitat on which to settle and metamorphose into the reproductive phase of the life cycle. The majority of larvae are induced to settle by biochemical cues and many species have long been known to preferentially settle in the dark. Combined, these data suggest that larval responses to light and biochemical cues may be linked, but this is yet to be explored at the molecular level. Here, we track vertical position of larvae of the sponge Amphimedon queenslandica to show that they descend to the benthos at twilight, by which time they are competent to respond to biochemical cues, consistent with them naturally settling in the dark. We then conduct larval settlement assays under three different light regimes (natural day-night, constant dark or constant light), and use transcriptomics on individual larvae to identify candidate molecular pathways underlying the different settlement responses that we observe. We find that constant light prevents larval settlement in response to biochemical cues, likely via actively repressing chemostransduction; this is consistent with the sustained upregulation of a photosensory cryptochrome and two putative inactivators of G-protein signalling in the constant light only. We hypothesise that photo- and chemosensory systems may be hierarchically integrated into ontogeny to regulate larval settlement via nitric oxide (NO) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signalling in this sponge that belongs to one of the earliest branching of the extant animal lineages.
Project description:Vaccines/drugs that could utilize the mucosal immune system to produce antibodies in the nose should help stop the coronavirus at the point of entry. Therefore, Identification of biomarkers in nasal microenvironment associated with viral clearance, vaccine implementation, and easily measurable correlates of protection, can allow monitoring of infection-induced immunity and facilitate novel drug/vaccine development. Our study proposes to use mass spectrometry-based proteomics to reflect the host response to COVID-19 infection in the nasopharyngeal environment and to identify any new biomarkers that can be used for designing non-invasive prognostic tools and treatments at the point of entry of the virus.
Project description:To assess how larvae of different ages vary in their responses to different settlement cues, we induced individual Amphimedon queenslandica larvae with one of three different settlement cues at 1.5, 3, 5, and 8 hours post emergence (hpe) from the adult sponge. The settlement cues were (1) the articulated coralline algae Amphiroa fragilissima, (2) the crustose coralline algae Mesophyllum sp., and (3) the filtered seawater (FSW) negative control. We used CEL-Seq2, an RNA-Sequencing approach (Hashimshony et al., 2016), to generate transcriptome data for a total of 144 individuals (larvae and settled post-larvae) at 2 hours post induction (hpi) to the different settlement cues.
