Functional study of ApiAP2 transcription factors during Plasmodium falciparum sexual stages

• Grant number: 19/16129-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: October 15, 2019
• End date: April 18, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology - Protozoology of Parasites
• Principal Investigator: Gerhard Wunderlich
• Grantee: Eliana Fernanda Galindo Cubillos
• Supervisor: Lisa Catherine Ranford-Cartwright
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Glasgow, Scotland
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/12659-5 - Approaching the role of three ApiAP2 transcription factors in the control of gene transcription in intraerythrocytic and sexual stages of Plasmodium falciparum, BP.DR

Abstract

This is a proposal for a 6-month research internship at the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine in the University of Glasgow under the supervision of Dr. Lisa Ranford-Cartwright. The main aim of this project is the infection of Anopheles mosquitoes with transgenic strains (knockdown / knockout) of Plasmodium falciparum, in order to evaluate the role of two transcription factors of the ApiAP2 family throughout the sexual cycle of the parasite. Standard and routine techniques of in vitro infection of Anopheles gambiae or An. coluzzi and subsequent dissection of the stomach and salivary glands will be applied to calculate infection rates of knockdown / knockout parasites.