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 The three related species of
trypanosomatids, Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi,
and Leishmania major, cause serious human and animal diseases, with a very high incidence
and mortality rate if untreated. There are no vaccines for these pathogens,
the drugs are toxic with limited effectiveness, and drug resistance is
emerging. The availability of the genome sequences of these organisms since
2005 has dramatically expanded our knowledge of their biology; however, a
major obstacle has since been acknowledged: the majority of trypanosomatid
genes are not found in any other organism, making it almost impossible to
use homology-based methods for inferring their functions from their
sequences. Our lab is focused on development of novel computational and
experimental methods for functional and structural characterization of
trypanosomatid genomes. We are also involved in development of
high-throughput methods for identification of novel chemical inhibitors of
essential trypanosomatid proteins, particularly the editing complex of T. brucei.
Functional characterization of some of the key trypanosomatid proteins that
are involved in RNA editing is also among the major research topics of our
lab.
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