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MLS (01/2022) Maria Luisa Simoe's manuscript on the C-type lectin 4 implication in regulating broad-spectrum melanization-based refractoriness to malaria parasites was accepted for publication in PLoS Biology.
   
Johnny (11/2021) Johnny Nakhleh joins the Dimopoulos Group as a postdoctoral fellow to study the implication of mosquito complement-like system and c-type lectins in anti-Plasmodium defenses. Johnny earned his PhD from the American University or Beirut, Lebanon in 2020.
   
Alex (10/2021) Alexandros Belavilas joins the Dimopoulos Group as a Fulbright Scholar and visiting fellow to study the implication of mosquito long non-coding RNAs in immunity and reproduction. Alexandros is pursuing his PhD at the University of Thessaly, Greece.
   
Tanaya (10/2021) Tanaya Sheth joins the Dimopoulos Group as a ScM program graduate student to study the implication of Wolbachia-induced genes in anti-Plasmodium defenses. Tanaya earned her BSc from the Ramnarian Ruia Autonomous College, Mumbai, India in 2020.
   
SD (09/2021) Shengzhang Dong's manuscript on the Pleiotropic odorant-binding proteins that promote Aedes aegypti reproduction and flavivirus transmission was accepted for publication in mBIO.
   
MLS (10/2021) Maria Luisa Simoes is relocating to London UK to assume her position as Assistant Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. For further information see: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/simoes.maria-luisa
   
Caire (09/2021) Caire Barreto Vieira joins the Dimopoulos Group as a postdoctoral fellow to study the permissiveness of transgenic Anopheles strains to different P. falciparum isolates. Caire earned his PhD from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil in 2021.
   
AA (09/2021) Anastasia Accoti's manuscript on the discovery of novel entomopathogenic fungi for mosquito-borne disease control was published in the journal Frontiers in Fungal Biology.
   
YAR (09/2021) Yesseinia Anglero-Rodriguez's and Chinmay Tikhe's manuscript on dsRNA-mediated activation of the Aedes aegypti Toll pathway in endosomes was published in the journal of Developmental and Comparative Immunology.
   
MB (08/2021) Mahdiyeh Bigham joins the Dimopoulos Group as a postdoctoral fellow, to study mosquito-pathogen interactions and to develop field-deployable qPCR-based assays for insecticide resistance surveillance. Mahdiyeh was previously a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University, Ithaca NY.
   
AMa (08/2021) Amanda Maldonado joins the Dimopoulos Group as a technician to be involved in various studies focusing on mosquito - microbe interactions. Amanda earned her BSc from Johns Hopkins University in 2021.
   
Mihra (06/2021) Mihra Tavadia joins the Dimopoulos Group as a Research Technologist to be involved in various studies focusing on mosquito - pathogen interactions and transgenesis. Mihra earned her ScM from Johns Hopkins University in 2021.
   
CC (04/2021) Cristiana Cuccurullo joins the Dimopoulos Group as a postdoctoral fellow to develop and study transgenic Anopheles strains that have been engineered for resistance to Plasmodium infection. Cristiana was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California San Diego.
   
ERIC (04/2021) Eric Caragata's manuscript on the microbial diversity pf adult Aedes aegypti and breeding water collected from different aquatic environments in Puerto Rico was published in Microbial Ecology journal.
   
VC (03/2021) Victor Cardoso joins the Dimopoulos Group as a postdoctoral fellow to study the implication of mosquito hemocytes in immunity against human pathogens such as the malaria parasite and arboviruses. Victor earned his PhD from the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute, Cuernavaca Mexico in 2020.
   
Natalie (09/2020) Natalie Rutkowski's manuscript was published in Parasites & Vectors. Together with Dr. Yuemei Dong she developed a field-deployable molecular diagnostic platform for the detection of arboviruses in mosquitoes. She used the bCUBE device made by Hyris Ltd.
   
ATRI (09/2020) Abhai Tripathi's manuscript on Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte culturing and mosquito infections through membrane feeding was published in the Journal of Visual Experimentation.
   
Hannah (07/2020) Hannah MacLeod's manuscript was accepted for publication in mBIO. She dissected the tropism of Zika virus in Culex mosquitoes, and showed that this is an incompatible vector-pathogen system. Her work also established standardized methodology for determining vector competence of mosquitoes for arboviruses.
   
EC (07/2020) Eric Caragata is relocating to Gainesville Florida to assume his position as Assistant Professor at the University of Florida, Medical Entomology Laboratory. For further information see: https://fmel.ifas.ufl.edu/faculty/eric-caragata/
   
SD (04/2020) Shengzhang Dong's manuscript was accepted for publication in PLoS Pathogens. Together with colleagues he identified several A. gambiae miRNAs that regulate anti-Plasmodium immunity. Shengzhang developed miRNA sponges expressing transgenic mosquitoes that are resistant to P. falciparum infection.
   
YD (03/2020) Yuemei Dong's manuscript was accepted for publication in Science Advances. Together with Maria Luisa Simoes she developed transgenic A. gambiae mosquitoes that express multiple endogenous and exogenous anti-Plasmodium effectors in different tissue-compartments. These new transgenic strains show elevated refractoriness to P. falciparum.
   
EC (03/2020) Eric Caragata and colleagues published a study in Applied Environmental Microbiology on the development of a non-live Chromobacterium Csp_P -based larvicidal. The larvicidal agent show high potency against both lab- and field-derived Aedes mosquitoes.
   
Anastaia (02/2020) Anastasia Accoti joins the Dimopoulos Group as a postdoctoral fellow, to study entomopathogenic fungi and Aedes - Wolbachia interactions. Anastasia earned her PhD from the University of Perugia, Italy, in 2019.
   
ML AWARD (11/2019) Maria Luisa Simoes won the first prize of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Young Investigator Award competition, at the 2019 ASTMH meeting, for her work on Anopheles C-type lectins.
   
Mihra (10/2019) Mihra Tavadia joins the Dimopoulos Group as an ScM student to study the Ae aegypti RNAi pathway.
   
Sayali (09/2019) Sayali Mulay joins the Dimopoulos Group as an ScM student to develop liquid culture fermentation methods for the mosquitocidal Chromobacterium Csp_P.
   
MLS (07/2019) Cecilia Springer Engdahl  joins the Dimopoulos Group as a postdoctoral fellow, to study the mosquitocidal Cromobacterium Csp_P. Cecilia earned her PhD from Umea University, Sweden, in 2018.

   
AS (06/2019) Aliyah Silver joins the Dimopoulos Group as a PhD program graduate student. Aliyah is studying the Aedes RNAi pathway in antiviral defense.
   
RS (01/2019) George Dimopoulos gave a public Professorship Lecture at the National University of Singapore Society, discussing the development of novel mosquito-borne disease control strategies based on genetically modified mosquitoes.
   
NR (08/2018) Natalie Rutkowski  joins the Dimopoulos Group as a postbaccaureate scholar. Natalie earned her BSc from the Loyola University, Chicago, in 2018.
   
RS (03/2016) George Dimopoulos was awarded the Shikani/El Hibri Prize for Discovery & Innovation.


   
RS (05/2018) Raul Saraiva published a study in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases on the discovery and characterization of a Chromobacterium-produced anti-dengue virus protease. Raul showed that the bacterium-produced protease is degrading the virus capsid protein, thereby interfering with host cell attachment.
   
MLS (05/2018) Sarah Short is relocating to Columbus Ohio to assume up her position as Assistant Professor at Ohio State University, Department of Entomology. For further information see: https://shortlab.cfaes.ohio-state.edu/home
   
MLS (05/2018) Sarah Short published a study in Scientific Reports on how live Chromobacterium sp Panama mediate larvicidal activity in the breeding water.  She showed that the mosquitocidal bacterium transiently produces cyanide at concentrations that are lethal to the larvae.
   
RS (01/2019) George Dimopoulos became a faculty inductee to the Alpha Chapter of the Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society.


   
MLS (04/2018) Andrew Pike published a study in PLoS ONE on how the transgenic blood meal -inducible expression of the Anopheles IMD pathway transcription factor REL2 influences mosquito fitness, resistance to insecticides and susceptibility to ONNV virus and Wolbachia infection.
   
MLS (04/2018) Sarah Short published a study in Parasites & Vectors on the fitness impact of Chromobacterium sp Panama on mosquitoes. She showed that the mosquitocidal bacterium elicits xenobiotic responses and causes transgenerational fitness effects.
   
RS (04/2018) Raul Saraiva published a study in Scientific Reports on the discovery and characterization of a Chromobacterium-produced anti-Plasmodium metabolite. Raul showed that the HDAC romidepsin is mediating inhibition of Plasmodium infection in the mosquito midgut tissue, as well as in vitro.
   
MLS (03/2018) Yuemei Dong published a study in PLoS Pathogens on the CRISPR/CAS9-mediated FREP1 gene knock-out in Anopheles gambiae. The FREP1 gene deletion results in a profound refractoriness to Plasmodium infection. This study represents the first Plasmodium host factor knock-out in Anopheles.
   
MLS (12/2017) Yesseinia Anglero-Rodriguez published a study on how the Talaromyces fungus modulates susceptibility of Aedes aegypti to dengue virus infection in eLIFE. The presence of the fungus in the mosquito midgut results in a general down-regulation of numerous mosquito blood digestive enzyme genes. This results in a greater susceptibility to the dengue virus.
   
MLS (10/2017) Maria Luisa Simoes was elected Student/Postdoc representative of the American Committee of Medical Entomology, and recieved the Award for Advanced Training by the American Committee or Molecular, Cellular and Immunoparasitology.
   
MLS (10/2017) Yesseinia Anglero-Rodriguez published a comparative study on how the Aedes aegypti mosquito responds to dengue and Zika virus infection. She also linked key innate immune pathways with the anti-Zika virus defense. The study was published in Frontiers in Microbiology.
   
MLS (10/2017) Maria Luisa Simoes published a study on the functions of three key immunity genes in Anophels gambiae and A. albimanus; the c-type lectins CTL4 and CTLMA2 and the leucine-rich repeat protein LRIM1. She showed that immune regulation of Plasmodium by these genes is mosquito species-specific and infection intensity-dependent. The study was published in mBIO.
   
MLS (10/2017) Chinmay V Tikhe joins the Dimopoulos Group as a postdoctoral fellow. Chinmay earned his PhD from the Louisiana State University, USA, in 2017.


   
MLS (09/2017) Andrew Pike published a study in Science on how the modulation of the Anopheles stephensi microbiota by transgenic immune activation results in an altered mate preference. This, in turn, favors the spread of the transgene in a mixed cage population. This mechanism can thereby function as a gene-drive in a cage population.
   
MLS (06/2017) Sarah Short published a study in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases on how amino acid metabolic signaling influences the Aedes aegypti midgut microbiome composition using a variety of functional genomics analyses.
   
MLS (09/2017) Eric Caragata  joins the Dimopoulos Group as a postdoctoral fellow. Eric earned his PhD from the University of Queensland, Australia, in 2013 and pursued postdoctoral training at the FIOCRUZ in Belo Horizonte.
   
MLS (04/2017) Shengzhang Dong joins the Dimopoulos Group as a postdoctoral fellow. Shengzhang earned his PhD from Zhejiang University, China, in 2007 and pursued postdoctoral training at the University of Missouri.
   
MLS (02/2017) Natapong Jupatanakul published a study in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases on the development of JAK-STAT immune pathway boosted Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Transgenic expression of the DOME or HOP genes in the fatbody tissue after a blood-meal renders the mosquito more resistant to dengue virus infection with a minimal fitness cost.
   
MLS (02/2017) Maria Luisa Simoes published a study on the transgenic expression of the anti-Plasmodium immune factor FBN9 in Developmental and Comparative Immunology. Carboxypeptidase promoter-driven FBN9-expression in the midgut tissue after a blood-meal renders the Anopheles gambiae mosquito more less susceptible to Plasmodium infection.
   
MLS (10/2016) Yesseinia Anglero-Rodriguez published a study on how a Penicillium chrysogenum fungus render Anopheles mosquitoes more susceptible to Plasmodium infection through a mechanism that implicate arginine sequestration. Arginine is important for the production of the anti-parasite metabolite nitric oxide. The study was published in Scientific reports.
   
RS (10/2016) Raul Saraiva and Nathan Dennison published a study in the Malaria Journal on how Enterobacter Esp-Z inhibits Plasmodium development in the mosquito midgut. Esp-Z produces a factor that shits down the parasite's oxidative defense system in addition to ROS production. The combined effect of this is a ROS-mediated inhibition of Plasmodium.
   
RS (03/2016) George Dimopoulos became an elected fellow to the American Society of Microbiology.


   
JC (10/2015) Jenny  Carlson joined the team as a PD after graduating from UC Davis where she studied the vector competence of Culicine mosquitoes for bird malaria. Jenny has extensive field entomology expertise from her graduate work. In the Dimopoulos group she will study the mosquito microbiota and how it may cause a trans-stadial immune priming. Jenny will also characterize the larvicidal and mosquitocidal activity of Csp_P in a semi-field facility in Zambia.
   
Hannah (05/2015) Hannah MacLeod joined the team as a PhD graduate student.

Hannah earned her bachelor's degree in Biology from Northeastern University with a concentration in Marine Biology. Prior to joining JHSPH she studied hematology in Boston, marine ecology in Panama and Washington state, and immunology in San Francisco. Hannah is studying the interaction between Culex mosquitoes and Zika virus, and a bacterium-based mosquitocidal.

   
Celia (05/2015) Celia Demby joined the team as a PhD graduate student. Celia graduated with a Distinction in Biochemistry from Syracuse University, where she also did research. She identified interneuron regulatory genes, characterized expression of spinal cord Ladybird Homeobox genes in Zebrafish, and investigated their role in interneuron specification. She is also a co-founder of a charity, called Project Pikin, in Sierra Leone for children orphaned by ebola.
   
MLS

(05/2015) Maria Luisa Simoes joined the team as a PD after graduating from the Inst. of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in Lisbon. She also trained at Imperial College London. During her PhD, Maria Luisa elucidated the role of the Plasmodium by-product hemozoin as an activator of Anopheles immunity, through mediation of the IMD pathway. She has also developed transgenic mosquito lines for Plasmodium resistance.

   
RS (03/2015) Raul Saraiva spent 4 weeks with collaborators in Cali Colombia studying Anopheles immunity to Plasmodium vivax infection. The lack of a method to culture this parasite species makes it impossible to perform mosquito infections in our laboratory. Colombia is endemic for P. vivax, and parasite infected blood from patients can be used to infect mosquitoes. His visit was sponsored by an Emergent Biosolutions travel fellowship.

BP (12/2014) Ben Blumberg and Andy Pike successfully defended their thesis research in December 2014, and are now a PhDs!, preparing for new breakthroughs as a postdocs. Pike's main project broadly focused on the effect of trangenesis on mosquito fitness. Ben's project focused on the mosquito microbiota and how it influences the innate immune system and anti-Plasmodium defense.

SK2 (11/2014) Seokyoung Kang was awarded a JHMRI Postdoctoral fellowship to study pathogen host factors. One of these factors is a mosquito prefoldin that act as a Plasmodium agonist. Seokyoung will study the function of this prefoldin at the mechanistic level, and investigate whether it can be used for the development of malaria transmission blocking strategies based on RNAi, small molecules and vaccines.

RS (11/2014) Raul Saraiva was awarded the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds "Stiftung fur medizinische Grundlagenforschung" pre-doctoral fellowship. Raul studies bacteria-produced metabolites that render mosquitoes resistant to Plasmodium and dengue virus. With this fellowship Raul will identify and characterize an Enterobacter-produced metabolite that modulate Plasmodium sensitivity to reactive oxygen species.

SS (11/2014) Sarah Short was awarded the NIH Ruth L Kirchenstein NRSA Postdoctoral training fellowship. The fellowship will enable Sarah to study the Aedes aegypti microbiota, and identify genes and pathways that are responsible for differences in the microbial load of diverse field mosquito populations. This project will provide insights on determinants of disease transmission since the microbiota influences pathogen infection.

SCIENCE 
SCIAM
 
SSJR (11/2014) The Dimopoulos Group study of the mosquito-associated Chromobacterium Csp_P was highlighted in the media.  The study was performed by Drs Ramirez and Short, and colleagues in the group.

Halloween (11/2014) Dimopoulos Group won the MMI department's Halloween costume competition, 2014!! Can you recognize the Draculas? Will we also win the 2015 competition? Let's see.....

PikeThai
PLT  (8/2014) Pike was awarded a travel fellowship to perform field research in Thailand, in collaboration with AFRIMS. He studied anti-pathogen specificity of immune pathways in the Thai vector Anopheles dirus that transmit Plasmodium vivax.

UPR1
Course lecturers, from left to right:
Dr. Sarah Short (JHSPH)
Dr. George Dimopoulos (JHSPH)
Dr. Adelfa Serrano (UPR)
Dr. Roberto Barrera (CDC-PR)
UPR2 (5/2014) George and Sarah taught the first Medical Entomology Course at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, as part of the Research Centers at Minority Institutions (RCMI) program. The course generated much enthusiasm for vector research. RCMI News Letter.
   
 
Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunoogy
Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute

Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
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