Current affiliations

• Position

  Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases

  Company

  Tufts-New England Medical Center & Tufts University School of Medicine

City:

None chosen

Hub:

Boston

While malaria, tuberculosis and HIV infection remain threats to entire populations of developing countries, infections are a particular threat to the elderly of industrialized countries. Our understanding of the age-related decline in resistance to infection is limited. Our research aims to identify allelic variations that determine the course of infection in the young and in the aged. The overall goal is to identify age-restricted genetic determinants of susceptibility to infection.

Babesiosis is a tick-borne infection caused by protozoa of the genus Babesia, obligate parasites of red blood cells. In the US, human babesiosis due to Babesia microti has the status of emerging infectious disease. Because age is a major risk factor for severe babesiosis, we developed a mouse model of human babesiosis. Using a classic genetic approach, we established that aging alters the genetic architecture of host resistance to Babesia microti. We are in the process of identifying and characterizing alleles conferring host resistance to Babesia microti in young and old mice. Our long-term goal is to identify allelic variations that determine the course of babesiosis in the elderly.