- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito that transmits malaria, has a new foe.
And his first name is Win.
Win Surachetpong, a UC Davis doctoral candidate in immunology with a designed emph
That's quite an honor, indeed.
Surachetpong studies with noted malaria researcher Shirley Luckhart, an associate professor of medical microbiology and immunology at UC Davis.
“Win’s work has demonstrated for the first time that signaling pathways that are well known for immune responsiveness in humans to Plasmodium infection are also important for the mosquito response to parasite infection,” said Luckhart, a faculty member of the Graduate Program in Entomology, and the Graduate Groups of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Microbiology; and Immunology.
“Win will be presenting exciting unpublished work that moves forward from his recent publication in PLoS Pathogens,” she said.
Also by invitation, Surachetpong will discuss his research at the adjoining meeting of the American Committee of Molecular, Cellular and Immunoparasitology, a unit of ASTMH that fosters the transfer of fundamental discoveries in basic research to applications that improve human health.
Malaria, caused by the parasite Plasmodium and transmitted by infected anophelene mosquitoes, strikes some 350 to 500 million people a year, killing more than a million. (Above: The photo of Anopheles gambiae is by UC Davis medical entomologist Anthony "Anton" Cornel, based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Center, Parlier.)
“There are no commercially available tools (such as antibodies, reagents for knockout) that have been designed to study these signaling pathways in invertebrate cells, much less mosquito cells,” she said.
Surachetpong is adapting available tools for mammalian cell studies to his work and developing the remaining tools and reagents on his own. “His data comprised nearly all of the preliminary data for a new NIH grant that will allow us to move forward into new and exciting areas in anti-malarial innate immunity,” Luckhart said.
Earlier this year, Surachetpong won the 2009 William C. Reeves New Investigator Award, a statewide award which acknowledges the best scientific paper submitted and presented at the annual Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California conference.
A native of Thailand, Surachetpong received his doctor of veterinary science degree at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok in 2000, ranking first in his class, and his master of science degree in pathobiology in 2005 from the University of Arizona, where he received the “Above and Beyond Award” from the Department of Veterinary Science and Microbiology.
After completing his doctorate at UC Davis, Surachetpong will join the faculty at Kasetsart University, Bangkok, to continue his research on tropical and emerging infectious diseases.
As a medical entomologist and immunologist, his goal is to utilize his expertise in vector-borne diseases and innate immunity to improve malaria transmission control in Thailand and other endemic countries.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Malaria is indeed a global terrorist.
The disease, caused by the parasite Plasmodium and transmitted by infected anopheline mosquitoes, strikes some 350 to 500 million people a year, killing more than a million individuals, primarily in Africa, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
So, it's good news to hear that malaria researcher Win Surachetpong, a doctoral candidate in the Shirley Luckhart lab at UC Davis, is the 2009 winner of the William C. Reeves New Investigator Award, given to the best scientific paper presented at the annual Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California (MVCAC) meeting.
Surachetpong received $1000 and a plaque at the 77th annual MVCAC meeting, held in
“His work,” she said, “has been the foundation of the development of a completely new area of work for us that will probably keep us busy for years to come." On a personal note, Win is a good friend to everyone in the lab and always ready with a quick smile and good word for the day."
The award memorializes William C. Reeves, a renowned entomologist and professor at UC Berkeley who was widely regarded as the world's foremost authority on the spread and control of mosquito-borne diseases. Reeves (1916-2004) was a frequent visitor to the UC Davis campus.
Surachetpong said that malaria “remains an enormous public health burden, especially in developing countries.”
“New strategies including integrated vector management in combination with current conventional malaria control efforts such as drug treatment and bednet usage could synergistically reduce malaria transmission,” Surachetpong said.
“However, our current knowledge of vector-host-parasite interactions is limited,” he noted. “For example, how mosquito innate immune responses control malaria parasite development and how blood-derived factors modulate mosquito biology remain interesting topics.”
“In this study, we reveal the role of MEK-ERK (mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase) signaling in regulation of malaria parasite development by an ingested blood-derived, mammalian cytokine in the mosquito host.”
The results, the researchers said, “provide new insights into the host-parasite-vector relationship that could be utilized as a foundation for new strategies to reduce malaria transmission.”
A native of
Last year Surachetpong was awarded a prestigious Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation health travel award to present his research at a Keystone Symposia conference in Bangkog, Thailand. The meeting focused on the pathogenesis and control of emerging infections and drug-resistant organisms.
Surachetpong received his doctorate of veterinary science at