Prof Tim Yoshino

Physiological and molecular interactions between parasites and their invertebrate hosts; Comparative immunobiology; Invertebrate innate immunity; Invertebrate lectins as pathogen recognition receptors (PRR); Genomic, proteomic and glycomic profiling of larval schistosome development. DESCRIPTION: Research in the laboratory emphasizes the cellular, biochemical and molecular interactions between larval stages of the human blood fluke, Schistosoma mansoni , and its snail intermediate host, Biomphalaria glabrata. The major projects involve (1) investigating the recognition mechanisms underlying cellular immune responses to infection by larval S . mansoni in genetically defined susceptible and resistant snails, (2) recognition receptors of snail hemocytes (circulating phagocytic cells), with emphasis on lectin PRRs, larval glycans, and glycan-stimulated signal transduction systems, (3) characterizing differential gene- and protein expression changes during early larval schistosome development using microarray, SAGE, and proteomic analyses, and (4) glycomic analysis of complex carbohydrates expressed at the schistosome larval surface and investigating their role in host-parasite interactions. Supported by NIH grant RO1 AI15503.