Modeling Chagas disease vector infection prevalence: incorporating life history characteristics and community composition

2013 Projects, ,

Authors: Carolina Cabrera, Nicole L. Gottdenker Abstract Multihost vector-borne pathogens play an important role in human and veterinary public health worldwide, and understanding factors that drive their transmission is critical to the development of vector-borne disease prevention and control. Two potentially important drivers of multihost vector-born pathogen transmission are 1) the community composition of reservoir

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Effects of temperature on larval immunity

2013 Projects,

2013 student Kaela Caballero worked with Professor Sonia Altizer and graduate student Alexa Fritzsche to investigate the effect of temperature on immunity to parasites in monarch butterfly larvae.   Abstract Recent studies indicate that environmental factors, particularly temperature, can affect the outcome of host-parasite interactions, with implications for predicting pathogen responses and parasite development to

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A within-host mathematical model for the treatment of active and dormant Mycobacterium tuberculosis

2013 Projects

2013 student Alex Becker worked with Professor Andreas Handel to develop a mathematical model of drug resistance in tuberculosis. Abstract. With the ongoing problem of Multiple Drug Resistant and Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (TB), treatment strategies are being reassessed in hopes of making therapy more effective as well as shorter. We use a compartmental within

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Parasite species richness in hoofed mammals

2013 Projects

Student Rachel Mercaldo, who participated in summer 2013, chose a mapping study for her project. She worked with mentors Patrick Stephens and John Gittleman to map ungulate parasite richness worldwide. The abstract from her summer project is below. Abstract. The effect of host traits, individual parasite biology, and phylogeny on parasite species richness (PSR) was

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When worms compete, who wins?

2013 Projects

In summer 2013, student Jessica Ramadin studied interactions among gastrointestinal worms of African buffalo together with mentors Sarah Budischak and Vanessa Ezenwa. Here’s the abstract from her summer project. Abstract. Competition occurs when organisms must vie for limited resources and is often evidenced by a reduction in body size, decrease in reproductive success, change in

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Influence of larval aquatic habitat on the growth and development of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

2013 Projects

2013 student Victoria Knight worked with Professor Michael Strand and graduate students Kerri Coon and Kevin Vogel to investigate the effect of larval habitat on mosquito gut microbial communities. Abstract  Mosquitoes host diverse bacterial communities that vary depending on many factors, including environment. The composition of bacteria present in the gut of adult mosquitoes is

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Host factors associated with blood parasite infections in aquatic turtles in Georgia

2013 Projects

Student Candace Cooper worked with Professor Michael Yabsley during summer 2013 studying Haemogregarine parasites in turtles. This is the abstract from her summer project. Abstract. Haemogregarines are common intraerythrocytic protozoan parasites of reptiles. Of the four genera of haemogregarines that infect reptiles, Haemogregarina is the most common genus reported from aquatic turtles. The life cycle

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The Perfect Storm: Factors that lead to increased transmission and resistance emergence of heartworm in the United States

2013 Projects

2013 student Paige Miller worked with Dr. Andrew Park to investigate dynamics of canine heartworm in the United States.   Abstract  Heartworm disease has been observed all over the world but is distributed heterogeneously and hotspots are thought to be promoted by factors such as climate, pet and owner demographics, and percent of canid population

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